In the wake of two major failures for the US aerospace giant Boeing (and just in time for Christmas), the board of directors has sacked CEO Dennis Muilenburg.

"The Board of Directors decided that a change in leadership was necessary to restore confidence in the Company moving forward as it works to repair relationships with regulators, customers, and all other stakeholders," the company said in a statement released on Monday morning in the US.

On Wall Street, Boeing stock jumped up about three percent on the news and closed up 2.91 percent.  

Muilenburg, who had been CEO since July 2015, got the boot days after Boeing's new Starliner space capsule failed to achieve the proper orbit to reach the International Space Station (ISS) and had to be brought down to earth early.  The shortened unmanned mission put the company behind in its race with Elon Musk's SpaceX to develop the next generation in US spacecraft so that NASA doesn't have to subcontract Russia to lift its Astronauts and kit to the ISS and possibly beyond.

It also comes a week after Boeing announced it would suspend production of its troubled 737 Max airplanes, which were grounded after two crashes killed 346 people.

Muilenburg will be replaced by Boeing Chairman David Calhoun.