After one year on the job, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg has earned high praise from aerospace analysts and airline customers.

The soft-spoken and mild-mannered CEO came out of retirement to take the top job at Boeing last August, at a time when the company was reeling from disaster.

In January 2024, a panel flew off a Boeing 737 Max 9, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the plane and disrupting what was meant to be the aerospace manufacturer's comeback year. The COVID-19 pandemic had roiled its supply chain and two fatal Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 soiled Boeing’s reputation among safety regulators.

A year ago, Boeing’s then-CEO had stepped down, production in its commercial factories had slowed and 33,000 Machinists in the company’s Puget Sound factories were gearing up to go on strike.

Ortberg “walked into a very difficult situation and did what needed to be done quickly,” said John Plueger, the CEO of aircraft lessor Air Lease. “It has boosted my confidence, and our company’s confidence, in Boeing and the path forward. I think he has his priorities right.”

Boeing’s decision to tap Ortberg as the next CEO immediately inspired optimism. Analysts widely saw Ortberg as the right combination of a new perspective with deep knowledge of the aerospace industry. He was a Boeing outsider but had years of experience leading an aerospace supplier.

Now, a year in, analysts said Boeing still has obstacles to overcome but believe the new CEO has set the company on the right path forward.

“It was the perfect move,” said Adam Pilarski, president of aviation consulting firm Avitas. “Luckily, he didn’t disappoint me.”

Ortberg started his career as an engineer at Texas Instruments in 1983 before joining aerospace supplier Rockwell Collins and eventually being named CEO in 2013. He led the company’s integration with United Technologies and RTX before retiring in 2021.

Ann McKenna, the dean of the college of engineering at Ortberg’s alma mater, The University of Iowa, said that from talking with Ortberg’s friends and former teachers, it’s not a surprise he took the Boeing job, even in the face of so many obstacles.

“What I’ve heard is all positive,” McKenna said. “It doesn’t surprise me that Kelly would have taken this on, because that’s just the kind of person he is.”

In his first year on the job, Ortberg secured a deal to end the Machinists’ strike, bringing the Puget Sound factories back online. He also raised $21 billion in an expanded share sale in October, shoring up the balance sheet.

That same month, Ortberg announced massive layoffs to cut 10% of the workforce in an effort to focus the company on core areas of the business, he said at the time.

Throughout the year, he increased production rate of Boeing’s popular 737 Max, bringing monthly production to the maximum allowed by the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA’s cap, imposed after the panel blowout to ensure Boeing focused on quality over speed, is still in place but Ortberg said at the company's quarterly earnings call in July he is optimistic the company Boeing will ask to move beyond the threshold in the coming months.

Boeing significantly cut its losses in the second quarter this year, reporting a net loss of $612 million, compared to a loss of $1.4 billion in the same time period of 2024. It used $200 million of free cash flow in the second quarter, down from $4.3 billion in the same quarter last year.

In the defense business, Ortberg’s first year saw the start of a recovery, as it marked two consecutive quarters with no write-offs from fixed-price government contracts. Comparatively, in the last quarter of 2024, near the start of Ortberg's tenure, Boeing’s defense division lost $2.3 billion, reflecting $1.7 billion in write-offs.

In March, Boeing won a contract to build the U.S. Air Force’s next generation fighter jet, the F-47, solidifying its future as a competitive defense company.

'Right the ship'

Based in Seattle, Ortberg has seemingly engaged with employees and laid the foundation for a new safety culture that encourages workers to speak up when they have concerns, said George Ferguson, an analyst from Bloomberg Intelligence.

“He really needed to come in and right the ship – improve morale, get employees to build more quality into the product … to reinstill their confidence so they could build quality airplanes,” Ferguson said. “It looks to me like its well underway. It's creating results.”

Plueger, from Air Lease, said he has seen the quality of Boeing’s products improve. Deliveries are on time and the list of minor problems that comes with each new aircraft, like a piece of paint that isn't quite right or an overhead bin that isn't closing right, is similar to what Air Lease saw pre-2018, Plueger said.

“This is now Boeing’s criteria, first and foremost. It’s not just steps to satisfy the regulator … I think that is a significant shift,” Plueger said.

Andy Cronin, CEO of aircraft lessor Avolon, similarly said: “We believe Boeing is definitely through the worst.”

Meanwhile, Ortberg successfully navigated a volatile macroeconomic environment as President Donald Trump instituted steep tariffs on countries around the world, including many that buy Boeing planes and supply aircraft parts.

The aircraft industry has recently won exemptions from the latest round of tariffs and Boeing has seen massive orders from international customers as countries scramble to reset what Trump describes as a trade imbalance.

Ortberg appears to have been effective in discussions with the president, analysts said in interviews this week, making sure his voice and the aerospace industry’s perspective is heard.

In June, Ortberg faced an unexpected tragedy when a Boeing 787 crashed in Ahmedabad, India, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 people on the ground. It was the first fatal crash involving Boeing's 787 Dreamliner.

It will be months before accident investigators determine a probable cause but India's civil aviation bureau said in a preliminary report there are no recommended actions related to Boeing's 787 and the General Electric engines powering the Dreamliner.

In the aftermath of the crash, Ferguson said Ortberg handled a challenging situation well.

Plueger said it was clear Ortberg was focused and concerned." His communication with customers, employees and the public, "give me confidence that he's on top of things," Plueger said.

Next year's to do list

Looking back on his first year, Ortberg told investors at the company’s quarterly earnings call last month there is still work to do but he is “pretty pleased” with how the company has progressed so far.

“I’m not surprised with the performance of the company and the recovery,” he said. “We’ve got great people in the company. We’ve got great market positions. My role here is just to help everybody get organized and headed in the right direction.

“It’s turning a big ship around,” Ortberg continued. “I think that we’re turning it. I don’t think it’s turned. We still have a lot of work to do.”

Ortberg’s to-do list for his second year is already taking shape:

Navigate a work stoppage at Boeing’s St. Louis region defense factories and secure a new contract agreement to restart production for the company’s fighter jets. Continue increasing production of the 737 Max. Finalize FAA certification for Boeing’s long-awaited new plane models, including the 777X family and two Max variants, the 737 Max 7 and Max 10. And, complete Boeing’s acquisition of supplier Spirit AeroSystems, an effort to improve the quality of products coming from Spirit’s Wichita, Kan. factories to Boeing’s commercial products.

Pilarski, from Avitas, said Ortberg has had the right mentality during his tenure on the job.

“He didn’t promise miracles. It’s just kind of the boring ‘do your stuff,’ and that’s what they needed,” Pilarski said. Now, one year in, “they are not out of the woods yet. He stopped the bleeding and things are moving forward but he has to, next year, continue the same boring thing.”

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