(Reuters) -Former Rockwell Collins chief Kelly Ortberg has joined the list of contenders under serious consideration by Boeing as the planemaker's next chief executive officer, The Air Current reported on Sunday, citing industry officials.
Ortberg, Spirit AeroSystems CEO Pat Shanahan and Boeing Chief Operating Officer Stephanie Pope are among candidates for the Boeing job, the trade publication said.
Reuters has reported Shanahan and Pope as contenders along with Boeing board Chair Steve Mollenkopf.
Earlier in July, Boeing said it would buy back Spirit, its former subsidiary, in a stock deal worth $4.7 billion.
RTX's Rockwell Collins produces aircraft communications, electronics and aviation systems for commercial and military customers. Ortberg retired in 2021 as an adviser to the CEO of RTX after heading Rockwell Collins and its successor entities for about eight years as it went through mergers, acquisitions and restructuring.
Boeing did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment outside regular business hours.
Boeing has been looking for a new head after Dave Calhoun said in March he would step down by year-end, in a broad management shakeup following a January mid-air panel blowout on a 737 MAX plane.
(Reporting by Utkarsh Shetti in Bengaluru; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Chris Reese)