Boeing needs a CEO who can usher in the next generation of planes, says Gabelli's Tony Bancroft

Let's bring in a Boeing shareholder now for more on what's at stake and the impact on the stock. Tony Bancroft is a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds. Boeing is the number one position in his Gabelli Commercial Aerospace and Defense ETF. Tony, welcome back. Good to have you with us. What about what Senator Blumenthal says? That is that Boeing isn't doing enough fast enough to satisfy both the American public and the flying public. Thanks, Tyler. It's great to be back. You know, I, I think, you know, Boeing's in a tough spot. I, I, I think Boeing's there today to show their commitment to transparency. And, you know, they're, they're changing their culture. They've implemented a lot of changes that have been approved by the FAA and they're, they're doing it. But I think just like Phil said, I I think that essentially Boeing needs to do, do you know of anything they could be doing faster or better or, or, or is again, I mean, if a senator can't point to something specific and just say, well, you're not doing it fast enough. I don't know that how I'm, I'm pretty sure that what happened on January 5th, the the with those with those bolts, that's never going to happen again on a Boeing aircraft. I'm pretty sure that's a guarantee. That was with a door, with a door ploded or blew out. Yeah, the door, I'm sure. But a lot of investors and the flying public are thinking, but something else could happen because of the culture of Boeing. From a Boeing shareholder standpoint, what is the bold case? Is it just that it's a duopoly? It's just that the United States have to has to buy, you know, defense from Boeing? I mean, what? Because we've seen like things just unfold time and time. Another thing, another thing, another thing, you know, a self-inflicted wound and it, it doesn't seem to relent. Yeah. I think on, you know, on the commercial side, you know, there was after COVID, there was a lot of turnover on, on, on unemployment. And you've got a lot of new people learning how to build a very complex and, you know, multiple, multiple, lot of engineering has to go involved in it. And so I think Boeing is dealing with that right now in a tight labor environment. And obviously, you know, the, the, the supply chain as well as being is, is, is constricted. But I think long term, you know, secular tailwinds of of of how many, you know, almost 40,000 aircraft that need to be built over the next 20 years with a, you know, rising middle class in emerging economies that all want to go fly the experiential generation. I think those tailwinds, you know, are essentially that that thesis is has not changed. And, you know, Boeing is going to be a big participant in building those planes. How do you, I mean, Mr. Calhoun, whatever you think of him, it seems to me that he has tried to be transparent. He's tried to be responsive. He is leaving at the end of the year. What, if anything, are you hearing about people who might be on the short list to succeed him? Are they leaning more toward an internal candidate or an external candidate? What do you know? I think Boeing's wish list is that they want someone that can come in and, you know, change work on the culture, hearts and minds of the employees and, and get Boeing sort of going in the right direction. I think they want someone with a technical background. It's some type of engineering. Somebody can work in a, in a plant and make operations more efficient. And you know, they, there needs to be someone that can come in and usher the next, the next generation plane. There's going to be a new aircraft eventually that's going to be replacing the 737 and they need someone that has that kind of that mindset and outlook.