By Bill Rigby
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Boeing Co
The largest U.S. planemaker has recently steadied its troubled 787 program but has struggled in the more important narrow-body 737 market, where it allowed Airbus to march into its core territory and take a large order from staunch Boeing customer American Airlines.
In a surprising move with immediate effect, Boeing said sales veteran Raymond Conner would be the new head of its commercial plane making unit, replacing another longtime Boeing executive, Jim Albaugh.
Conner, 57, was most recently in charge of sales and customer support for the unit. Albaugh, 62, is to retire on October 1 after 37 years with the company.
Albaugh took over the commercial plane unit in September 2009 after running Boeing's defense unit, as the company looked for a steady hand to guide the early production of the troubled 787 Dreamliner program.
The change comes as Boeing ramps up production of its commercial aircraft, and just weeks before the Farnborough airshow, one of the key events in the company's calendar where it shows off its latest planes and usually announces new orders.
It was greeted with surprise by some industry-watchers, who expected Albaugh to stay in his post for several more years.
"Ray Conner is well-regarded, but Albaugh was still riding high after turning the 787 program around," said Teal Group analyst Richard Aboulafia. "He'll certainly be remembered for bringing that program back to health.
"Realistically, he's accomplished everything he was trying to do at Boeing Commercial Aircraft," said defense consultant Loren Thompson at the Lexington Institute.
Thompson said Albaugh's support was key to Boeing's winning back a multibillion-dollar U.S. Air Force contract to build 179 new refueling planes that had been awarded to Northrop Grumman Corp
(Additional reporting by Karen Jacobs in Atlanta and Andrea Shalal-Esa in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
