After steering major deal, Shanahan, CEO of Boeing supplier, could be next Boeing boss

The complex three-way deal announced late Sunday night to split Spirit AeroSystems between Boeing and Airbus, returning to Boeing huge manufacturing facilities that it sold off two decades ago, was engineered by Spirit AeroSystems CEO Pat Shanahan.

Just four months after Boeing announced its intention to reacquire most of this critical supplier, Shanahan secured agreement through personal negotiations with the senior leadership of the two greatest rivals in the aviation world.

A former top Boeing executive and former acting Secretary of Defense under President Donald Trump, appointed Spirit CEO late last year, Shanahan was already considered a top contender to replace Dave Calhoun as CEO of Boeing.

As an engineer and a manufacturing Mr. Fix-It, Shanahan would be “an inspired choice,” veteran aviation analyst Adam Pilarski of consulting firm Avitas said in March.

After landing the Spirit agreement, Shanahan, 62, who spends weekends at his home in Seattle, is now positioned as perhaps the favorite to take over when Calhoun steps down later this year.

In an exclusive interview Monday with The Seattle Times, Shanahan deflected but didn’t deny interest when asked if he might be Boeing CEO.

“It’s not my place to comment on what Boeing might or might not do,” Shanahan replied. “I’ll be keeping my eye on getting this deal done at Spirit.”

Shanahan was brought in to take control of Wichita, Kan.-based Spirit in October when the previous CEO Tom Gentile was fired. Spirit was losing money, deep in debt and facing repeated revelations of quality defects.

A few months later, the midair blowout of a fuselage panel on a Boeing 737 Max — a fuselage built in Wichita last September, before Shanahan took over — precipitated an ongoing crisis at Boeing over its quality management.

Part of Boeing’s response was to accept delivery of Max fuselages at the final assembly plant in Renton only if they are largely complete and defect free.

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