SEATTLE (Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) has reassigned the head of its next airplane project to run the troubled 737 program, according to a memo seen by Reuters on Thursday, as the grounding of its 737 MAX in the wake of two accidents commands the planemaker’s full attention.
Kevin McAllister, chief executive of Boeing’s commercial airplanes division, stressed in the memo that the so-called new mid-market airplane (NMA) project would remain as a program.
But the management shakeup marks a shift in the U.S. planemaker’s immediate focus toward getting its best-selling 737 MAX, the jet that was grounded after two crashes killed nearly 350 people in the span of five months, back in the air and generating cash.
Boeing’s 737 program manager, Eric Lindblad, will retire in a matter of weeks after roughly 12 months on the job, McAllister told employees in the memo. Lindblad, a respected engineer who had also run the 777X wide-body program, has been with Boeing for about 34 years and had mentioned retiring last year, he said.
Taking Lindblad’s place as the lead of the 737 program and the Renton, Washington, factory will be Mark Jenks, who has been leading Boeing’s potential new mid-market airplane (NMA) project, McAllister said.
Mike Sinnett, Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president of product development and future airplane development, will assume the role of vice president for NMA in addition to his current role, the memo said. Sinnett, who originally led preliminary work on the NMA, has been seen a figurehead of the program.
“Let me be clear - the NMA team will continue to operate
