Company Watch - Boeing.

For more company news, data and analysis, please go to: http://www.airguideonline.com/professional.htm Jun 12, 2006

Boeing maintained a better than 3:1 sales lead over Airbus through the month of May, based on information obtained from both companies' websites. Airbus received orders for six aircraft in the month--two A318s, three A319s and one A330-200--bringing year-to-date sales to 105. The A330 and two of the A319s were sold to private customers. Jun 9, 2006

Order for passenger version of 747-800 is the first in years. Boeing has landed the first order for the passenger version of its 747-800, but it isn't making a big deal about it. In fact, Boeing did not even make an announcement. It simply added the order for the one plane to information about jetliner orders and deliveries that can be found on its public Web site. And even then, the information was not easy to spot. The customer for the plane does not want to be identified, a Boeing spokesman said Thursday when asked about the order. A company insider who asked not to be quoted by name said only a small number of people within Boeing know who the customer is. It is the first 747 passenger plane of any type that Boeing has sold in several years. Customers have been buying only freighters. The 747-800 will be a bigger and more efficient version of the jumbo jet. It is being developed as both a freighter and a passenger plane. Boeing launched development of the 747-800 program last year, with orders for the freighter. Luxembourg's Cargolux has ordered 10 freighters, and Nippon Cargo Airlines ordered eight. But until now, Boeing had not had a single order for the 747-800 passenger plane, which will be called the Intercontinental. In a recent briefing for reporters, Jeff Peace, vice president of 747 programs, said he was not worried about the lack of Intercontinental orders and expected such an order by the end of this year. Boeing has been talking with a number of potential customers about the 747-800 passenger plane. Most are in Asia. Jun 9, 2006

Development problems may stall Boeing 787 delivery. Technical and production problems may threaten the delivery schedule for Boeing's new 787 jetliner, BusinessWeek reports. The plane's fuselage failed in company testing, and suppliers are struggling to meet Boeing's technology standards. Boeing 787 Vice President Michael Bair acknowledged the problems but said the plane will enter service on schedule in 2008. Jun 8, 2006

Airlines order more winglets. Commercial airlines will receive 530 sets of winglets in 2006 from Aviation Partners Boeing. That is a 51% increase from last year, the company said. Winglets improve jetliners' fuel efficiency by reducing drag. Jun 6, 2006

Iran trade deal includes Boeing aircraft parts. An incentive package to resolve the nuclear dispute with Iran includes allowing Tehran to buy aircraft parts from Boeing. The five members of the United Nations Security Council agreed to the proposal last week. Jun 6, 2006

FAA may relax rules for jetliners with two engines. The Federal Aviation Administration may soon conclude that jetliners with two engines should have the same flexibility in long-distance flying as planes with three or four engines. Such a decision would benefit Boeing's 777, which currently must stay within 3 1/2 hours of an emergency landing strip. Jun 5, 2006

Boeing books new orders worth up to $6.4B: Boeing has received new orders for jetliners worth up to $6.4 billion, according to its Web site. The orders include 20 777s. The company did not identify its customers. Jun 5, 2006

Boeing received orders for at least 32 aircraft in the last week of May from unidentified buyers, according to the Orders and Deliveries chart on the airframer's website and media reports. New orders comprised 20 777s, nine 737s and three 747s and are valued at $5.8 billion, according to Reuters. Boeing reported 347 net orders in the first five months of 2006: 259 737s, 59 787s, 20 777s, five 747s and four 767s. Data from Boeing's website, meanwhile, is complete through June 7, but the manufacturer is not yet revealing its sales total through May 31. However, in the Jan. 1-May 30 period it listed 347 net orders, an increase of 22 units over net orders of 325 received between Jan. 1 and April 30. These to comprise three 747s and 20 777s offset by the loss of one 737 order. Boeing's year-to-date sales through June 7 numbered 405 units, including 12 737s from an unidentified customer. In total, 97 aircraft are listed as being from unidentified customers. Interestingly, Boeing actually is well ahead of its 2005 sales performance; in the first five months of 2005 it sold 279 aircraft. Jun 5, 2006

Continental to order 787s, 737s. Continental ordered 10 additional Boeing 787 jetliners and 34 737s, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported, quoting unnamed sources. The 787 order is worth $1.5 billion. It is expected to be announced today. In a rare commitment by a US Major for widebody aircraft, Continental Airlines yesterday announced an order for 10 additional 787s, doubling the order it placed in December 2004 and making it the largest US customer for the Dreamliner. Continental also said it will acquire 24 more 737NGs, bringing the number of firm orders for the type to 66. The 20 787s begin delivery in 2009, with the first additional 737 arriving in 2008. "These aircraft will give us the ability to seize long-haul market opportunities, remove less efficient aircraft from our fleet and maintain our role as a global network leader," Chairman and CEO Larry Kellner said. "We continue to target 5%-7% annual growth in capacity. Our fleet plan remains flexible, permitting us to respond appropriately to market conditions. The carrier currently operates 299 737s including 147 NGs, 17 757-300s, 26 767 family aircraft and 18 777-200ERs. It has two 777s on order. Jun 6, 2006

Boeing and FedEx jointly have initiated a 120-day in-service evaluation of active radio frequency identification tags on some major airplane parts for a FedEx MD-10F. Active tags provide considerably greater read range than passive tags, 300 ft. compared to 10 ft., giving the ability to inventory an aircraft without opening access doors, according to Boeing. Active tags also operate more quickly and provide more storage memory. The tags were created by Identec Solutions, are battery powered and contain a microchip and transmitter that operate at 915MHz. Forty installed tags will transmit a signal every 3 sec. for the first 90 days. Thereafter, 10 additional tags with 8kb of read/write memory will be read and encoded with data for 30 days. During this part of the test, FedEx mechanics will use a portable data terminal to read and write inspection data to the tags during scheduled visits of the aircraft to the Memphis base. Jun 7, 2006

GE engines will power new Continental jetliners. Continental Airlines expects to use engines built by GE Aviation to power new Boeing jetliners. The airline on Tuesday announced an order for 34 planes. Jun 6, 2006

Israel Aircraft Industries said its Bedek Aviation division received an FAA STC for conversion of a 747-400 Combi into a pure freighter. The aircraft used for the certification process is owned by Guggenheim Aviation and will be operated by Air China. IAI said certification also was received from the Israeli CAA and certification from EASA and CAAC are expected shortly. Jun 6, 2006

Jade Cargo International will begin operations at the beginning of August, immediately after taking delivery of its first 747-400ERF. It initially will serve Amsterdam and Seoul Incheon three times a week from its hub in Shenzhen. Its second 747-400ERF is due to arrive in November. It has ordered a total of six with deliveries through January 2008. "We will rapidly expand our route network and serve intra-Asian, European and American destinations. From the start, Jade Cargo will assume a leading role in China's fast-growing air cargo market," MD Rudolf Tewes said in a statement. Jade was founded as a joint venture among Shenzhen Airlines (51%), Lufthansa Cargo (25%) and DEG (24%). It currently has 120 employees. Jun 8, 2006

Sky Airlines of Turkey placed an order for three firm 737-900ERs and two purchase rights, becoming the first European customer for the type launched last year, Boeing announced. The aircraft are valued at $226 million at list prices and are scheduled to begin delivery in the first quarter of 2009. Sky is a vacation airline operating a fleet of six 737-400s and one dash 800. Jun 9, 2006

SkyEurope Airlines said Bank of Scotland will provide pre-delivery payments and long-term loan financing on the four new 737-700s scheduled for delivery in the second half of 2007. The airline last year placed an order for 16 firm aircraft and 16 options and already has taken delivery of four. Twelve dash 700s, including those four, are to be financed under operating leases from GECAS. The aircraft financed with Bank of Scotland will be SkyEurope's first owned airplanes. The carrier said the transaction should be closed by the end of this month and "is a first step toward achieving a financing mix between leased and owned aircraft, a strategy also followed by the leading airlines in SkyEurope's peer group." Jun 5, 2006

Texas Pacific Group Founding Partner David Bonderman warned of the "deeply cyclical" nature of the airline business during the CEO Forum on Shaping the Air Transport Industry at the IATA AGM in Paris yesterday. "Although disguised by high fuel prices, this is about as good as it gets," he said, predicting that in two years time "we will see everybody cancel orders for over 1,000 new aircraft." Ironically, Bonderman also is chairman of Ryanair, which has outstanding firm orders for 143 737-800s and 193 options. Jun 6, 2006