Strength on strength

Boeing chief executive Dennis Muilenburg on leading the world’s biggest aerospace company into its second century

It’s not a bad time to be chief executive of the world’s largest aerospace company. As it prepares to mark its centenary in July The Boeing Company is in great health – profit was up 25 per cent in its last quarter, the order backlog for its signature commercial airliners stands at 5,700 aircraft, and the efforts of its 160,000+ employees help generate annual revenues of more than US$90 billion.

While there are challenges – like a shrinking defence unit (whose share of overall revenue has shrunk from about half to about a third as programs like the C-17 and F-15 wind down) – the message of the man tasked with leading Boeing forward is one of optimism.