Boeing communication chief to retire before end of 2019

Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Amid the company's ongoing struggle to return its 737 Max fleet to the skies, Boeing said Friday its communications chief will leave her post.

Senior Vice President of Communications Ann Toulouse will retire before the end of the year, the company announced.

Toulouse, 61, leaves at a time when Boeing is struggling to regain flyers' faith as it tries to win regulatory approval for a software fix that would return the 737 Max to service.

Toulouse rose to her post on an interim basis last year and the job became permanent a month before the Max fleet was grounded worldwide in March. She reported directly to President and CEO Dennis Muilenburg and also served on Boeing's executive council.

"This past year has been all-consuming and profoundly difficult for all of us at Boeing -- albeit nowhere close to the experience of the families affected by the Max accidents," she said in a statement.

Toulouse will be the second high-ranking female executive to leave the company since the planes were pulled from service. She said the lessons learned from the crashes and getting the plane back in the air will make Boeing a better and safer company.

"As we move into that next phase, I can best serve the company by turning over the role to someone with a fresh perspective," she said.

Boeing said it will name a successor soon.