The aerospace giant has named former Rockwell Collins boss Kelly Ortberg as its new CEO, handing the former head of one of its suppliers the task of steering the embattled plane maker through what is its biggest crisis in the company's history.

The appointment of Ortberg, 64, who will start on August 8 and join Boeing's board, ends months of speculation after Dave Calhoun said in March that he would step down by the end of the year (but not before cashing in on a huge golden parachute).

Boeing has been reeling, its stock tumbling to multi-year lows, since January when a door panel blew off a 737 Max during a commercial flight. Though no one was killed, some passengers were injured, and the accident recalled twin fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 that the company has struggled to put behind it.

Ortberg is an experienced leader "with a well-earned reputation for building strong teams and running complex engineering and manufacturing companies", said Boeing's chair Steven Mollenkopf, who led the search for Calhoun's replacement. "Kelly has the right skills and experience to lead Boeing in its next chapter."

The 64-year-old led Rockwell Collins, which makes avionics and cabin equipment, for five years and helped oversee its $30bn tie-up in 2017 with United Technologies. Now known as Collins Aerospace, it is part of defense contractor RTX.

"I'm extremely honored and humbled to join this iconic company," said Ortberg. "There is much work to be done, and I'm looking forward to getting started."

His appointment comes as Boeing reported a $1.4BN second-quarter loss, far larger than Wall Street expected. The quarter was marked by $1BN in losses tied to fixed-price defense contracts and fewer plane deliveries. The company also reported a $2.90/share loss, far bigger than the $1.97 loss expected, on revenue which tumbled from $19.8 billion to just $16.9 billion, also missing estimates of $17.2 billion.