Judge Shoots Down Boeing’s 737 Max Plea Deal, Making CEO Ortberg’s Year Somehow Even Worse

As 2024 comes to a close, Kelly Ortberg is probably staring wistfully at a 2023 calendar, wondering why he left his cushy retirement gig for this. Ortberg’s first year as Boeing CEO has been anything but smooth skies, and now a federal judge has essentially yanked his co-pilot’s yoke.

On Thursday, a judge rejected Boeing’s plea deal over the 737 Max disaster, the one where the company admitted to defrauding regulators about a flight-control system that caused two catastrophic crashes in 2018 and 2019. The crashes killed 346 people and sank Boeing’s reputation faster than you can say "safety review." Now, Boeing and the Justice Department have 30 days to figure out what’s next, but it’s hard to imagine this ending without more turbulence.

The timing couldn’t be worse. Boeing’s Starliner project, a supposed rival to SpaceX, is stuck back on the launchpad due to repeated delays and technical snafus, leaving NASA just texting Elon again. Meanwhile, the machinists’ union staged a lengthy strike this fall, demanding better pay and working conditions after years of relentless cost-cutting. Add in mounting competition from Airbus, and you’ve got a recipe for a CEO who will probably chug Pepto-Bismol instead of Egg Nog at the most depressing company holiday party ever.
Ortberg was supposed to be the steady hand that would steer Boeing out of crisis. Instead, he’s playing whack-a-mole with problems he didn’t create but now owns. Happy Almost New Year, Kelly.