Boeing 737 Max Fallout: CEO Receives Vote Of Confidence, Will Not Receive Bonus

As Boeing continues to deal with the fallout from its 737 Max 8 aircraft groundings, CEO Dennis Muilenburg received a vote of confidence from the company’s new chairman Dave Calhoun but will forgo any bonuses for the year.

“From the vantage point of our board, Dennis has done everything right,” Calhoun said in a statement to CNBC. “Remember, Dennis didn't create this problem. From the beginning, he knew that MCAS could and should have been done better and he has led a program to rewrite MCAS to alleviate all of those conditions that ultimately beset two unfortunate crews and the families and victims.”

Boeing has said that it has no plans to revoke bonuses that were paid to Muilenburg in 2018 in the midst of the issues with 737 Max, which had two fatal accidents since October 2018 and has been grounded since March. The CEO’s $23.4 million in bonus compensations last year recently came under fire from Capitol Hill.

Boeing’s woes began when a 737 Max flight crashed in Indonesia and continued five months later when another flight of the same model plane crashed in Ethiopia. All passengers from both flights died in the accidents. Investigations into the tragedies have deduced that the planes’ MCAS flight-control units were the cause of both incidents.

Boeing in July said it would take an after-tax charge of $4.9 billion on estimated disruptions from the grounding of 737 Max jets.

Muilenburg had previously been stripped of his role as company chairman as a result of the crisis.

A Boeing employee for 30 years, Muilenburg assumed the role of CEO in 2015.