Battle joined for Boeing top job

13 April 2012

HARRY Stonecipher, the boss of iconic American aircraft company Boeing, has caught the aviation industry off guard by revealing he plans to retire in two years' time at the age of 70.

Stonecipher, who was summoned from retirement last year to pull Boeing out of a crisis that threatened its commercial wellbeing, said he would step down as chief executive around the time of Boeing's annual meeting in 2006.

That has raised questions as to who is waiting in the wings to run the world's largest aerospace company. But Stonecipher told the Seattle Times newspaper that the board 'will have choices, inside and outside'.

Board member James McNerney, formerly of General Electric and now chief executive of 3M, is widely regarded as the favoured candidate.

The 53-year-old McNerney cut his teeth in the aerospace business at GE and was initially approached by Boeing last year to fill the gap created by the shock resignation of its then chief executive Phil Condit.

He declined the job at the time because he had made a commitment to 3M's board that he would stay for several years.

But his biggest challenger is Alan Mulally, Boeing's head of commercial aeroplanes and the executive with the longest ties to Boeing. But at 58 might be considered too old for a full 10-year run in the top job.

Meanwhile, it emerged that Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic is close to inking a $5bn (£2.73bn) deal with Airbus ahead of the airline's assault on the Heathrow-Sydney route this year. Branson said a deal was expected early this month, with Airbus marginally ahead in the race.

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