Disgraced Boeing boss takes flight

THE boss of US aviation giant Boeing was forced out in disgrace yesterday after his affair with a woman executive at the company was uncovered.

Boeing’s board demanded and got the resignation of 68-year-old grandfather Harry Stonecipher from his roles as president and chief executive.

Boeing said an internal investigation prompted by information sent anonymously to chairman Lew Platt and the company’s legal and ethics leaders 10 days ago revealed a “consensual” relationship between Stonecipher and the female executive that the board determined was in violation of the company’s code of conduct.

Spokesman John Dern said the female executive, who was not identified, did not report to Stonecipher and remains with the company. He declined to provide further details.

“This raises a lot more questions than it answers,” said analyst Richard Aboulafia.

Stonecipher, a tough-talking son of a Tennessee coal miner, was also dismissed from Boeing’s board, which he had been a member of since joining the company from McDonnell Douglas when the two companies merged in 1997.

Stonecipher had been credited with helping Boeing to clean up its ethical behaviour and with improving its sullied reputation in Washington. The company’s stock surged 52% during his tenure. He also is one of its largest stockholders as a result of the McDonnell Douglas deal.

Stonecipher failed, however, to win back the tainted €17.5 billion air-refuelling tanker contract that the Pentagon pulled from Boeing because of conflict-of-interest violations involving Druyun and Sears.

He had been expected to retire early next year.