Two Different Aviation Companies; Two Entirely Different CEOs
Heaven knows journalists, me included, have spent an enormous amount of time pillorying Boeing and its CEOs over the past decade. It’s tough not to when this giant American corporation continuously offers so much ammunition.
But I’m also old enough to remember a different Boeing, the Seattle company that also created some of the greatest aircraft known to man, like one of the most successful jet airliners in 1957, the 707. In 1969, Boeing took on a huge gamble and won when they launched the first jumbo, the Boeing 747, just a few years after the first flight of the 737. Before the airliners, in 1955, there was the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. The rock-solid B-52 is still an active part of the US Air Force arsenal nearly seven decades later. Before that, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress made a decisive difference in the Allies’ battle against Hitler over the skies above Europe during WWII.
Kelly Ortberg is Boeing’s current CEO, and for once, they seem to have hired a guy with his head screwed on straight. In the few short months he’s been at the helm, the company successfully weathered its first strike in a decade. The union pushed, and Ortberg bent a little. He also took up residence in the Seattle area, not in DC, near Boeing’s headquarters. He seems to have a management strategy and style Boeing employees can finally relate to and perhaps even respect.
From the WSJ a few weeks back, Ortberg tossed some much-needed cold water in Boeing’s face during a widely viewed meeting. “We spend more time arguing amongst ourselves than thinking about how we’re going to beat Airbus,” Ortberg said. “Everybody is tired of the drumbeat of what’s wrong with Boeing. I’m tired of it and haven’t been here long. Boeing has faced many highs and lows,” he said. “We’re at a low here, folks. Today, we have an opportunity to come racing out of where we are and improve.”
But the topper was, “Don’t sit at the water cooler and bitch about people,” Ortberg said. “Let’s focus on the task at hand.”
Ortberg sounds like the kind of leader this once-grand company and its employees may be able to count on to have their backs over the next few years.
Then There’s Spirit
Contrast Ortberg with Spirit Airlines CEO Ted Christie, the guy at the helm of what once was the leader of the airline business’s ultra-low-cost (ULCC) side. As a former Midway Airlines pilot who watched that airline and its employees suffer through Chapter 11 and later Chapter 7, Christie offers something for every airline employee to hate.
Just days before his troubled airline slipped into Chapter 11, Christie received a $3.8 M retention bonus to stick around and help the company he led into bankruptcy emerge from bankruptcy. Keeping the current staff in place might have worked when United, Delta and American flew through bankruptcy, but this is an entirely different story. Christie was at the helm when the airline’s potential merger with Jet Blue failed, shortly after he bailed out of the merger with Frontier Airlines. Both of those savvy decisions also earned him a big bonus. “Please, Ted, don’t leave us now,” the Spirit Board seems to be saying. “We really need you.”
For what exactly, I’m trying to figure out.
Oh BTW, did I mention Spirit’s nearly worthless stock was delisted from the NY Stock Exchange?
I’ll grant you Spirit is in a tough spot as the clock continues clicking down and the airline’s checkbook is nearly empty. I’ll betcha Spirit employees facing a bleak holiday season could probably have used a little piece of that $3.8M Ed, as well as the other couple of million the Board spent on the rest of the Spirit leadership team.
Seriously, assuming Ted Christie is the guy to keep Spirit above water right now is pure lunacy. Hey Kelly … do you have room for a part-time gig?
Rob Mark
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In Aviation, A Little Change Can Be Good
