BERLIN, June 4 (Reuters) - Boeing's ( BA ) board is

prepared to make decisions as the planemaker's Chief Executive

David Calhoun is set to step down at the end of the year, he

told Reuters on Wednesday, adding that the decision on his

successor is up to the board.

"The board is prepared to make their decisions, they have

time to be able to make them," Calhoun said on the sidelines of

an aviation conference in Berlin, adding that he is committed to

getting the company through its recovery.

Calhoun is set to step down by year-end as part of a

broad management shakeup brought on by the planemaker's

sprawling safety crisis, exacerbated by a January mid-air panel

blowout on a new 737 MAX plane.

Speculation has grown over his successor. Calhoun

supports Stephanie Pope, the head of Boeing's ( BA ) commercial

division, while investors, analysts and others have called for a

new top executive with both CEO and engineering experience.

Calhoun has been a Boeing ( BA ) board member since 2009, and

was named CEO in 2020 to help turn the planemaker around

following two fatal crashes involving the MAX, its

strongest-selling jet.

However, the planemaker has lost market share to

competitor Airbus, with its stock losing nearly 32% of

its value this year as production of the MAX plummeted this

spring. Following the January 5 incident, which occurred on a

plane operated by Alaska Airlines, U.S. regulators have curbed

the company's production ceiling.

Boeing ( BA ) is also under renewed scrutiny from the U.S.

Justice Department, which is weighing whether to advance

criminal charges against the company for violating a

non-prosecution agreement stemming from the 2018 and 2019

crashes that killed nearly 350 people.