Company Watch - Boeing.

Aug 20, 2007

Airblue of Pakistan plans to buy somewhere between eight and 14 aircraft either from the Boeing 737 NG family or the A320 family of Airbus. A deal, which could be announced in time for the Dubai Air Show in October, could be worth USD$400 million - USD$700 million. Delivery would start in 2009 and Airblue would take one plane approximately every three months. A senior Airblue official, who asked not to be named, said the airline would most likely choose the Airbus A320. "We already operate these aircraft and have a comfort level with them. So it suits us to have more of the same family." Airblue currently operates six A320s and has another two on order. Aug 17, 2007

Airblue, Pakistan's biggest private airline, plans to spend up to USD$700 million over the next five years on new aircraft as it replaces its existing fleet of leased planes. Chief Operating Officer Shahid Khaqan Abbasi also said Airblue, which competes with state-run Pakistan International Airlines on several domestic routes, was considering a stock market listing. Abbasi said the airline was in talks with both Airbus and Boeing for the purchase of up to 14 short-to-medium haul aircraft. Aug 17, 2007

Airblue, which started operations in June 2004, also flies to Dubai and Manchester, and plans to expand its international routes. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank's private sector arm, has agreed to provide financing worth USD$25 million for pre-delivery payments, and Airblue plans to get an ECA (Export Credit Agency) credit to fund the purchase of its aircraft announced at the Paris Air Show last June. Aug 17, 2007

Airbus and Boeing, with their new widebodies in production, are turning their attention to new products for the narrowbody market, representing over 10,000 jets for the next 20 year, to replace the Airbus A320 family and the Boeing 737 series respectively. Aug 17, 2007

Boeing will hold the lead in large commercial jets over the next decade, according to a new report, but Airbus will remain a strong competitor as the market remains a two horse race. A report from market research firm Forecast International predicts that 9,528 large commercial jet transports, valued at some $986 billion, will be produced between 2007 and 2016. The firm projects that Boeing will build nearly 56 per cent of these aircraft, while Airbus will build 43 per cent. A handful of Russian and Ukrainian companies are expected to account for the remaining 1 percent. Aug 17, 2007

The competition between Airbus and Boeing comes in the light of improving financial conditions for the airline industry in general. US airlines are expected to finally turn a profit in 2007, while European and Asian carriers have been profitable for a few years. However, air traffic growth is slowing somewhat, leading to concerns about future overcapacity which will force airlines to control their fleet growth. Aug 17, 2007

Boeing's launch of the new 787 mid-size airliner is expected to give the US manufacturer an advantage in the airliner market. Forecast International senior aerospace analyst Raymond Jaworowski said: "It is difficult to overestimate just how much the 787 has turned Boeing's fortunes around. Besides introducing the all-new 787, Boeing has launched a larger variant of its flagship 747, the 747-8, will be available in both passenger and freighter versions, and is being positioned to exploit a perceived capacity gap in the Airbus product line between that company's A340-600 and A380. Aug 17, 2007

Navy awards Boeing $13 million UAV contract boost. The Navy has given Boeing a $13.2 million contract boost for additional work on unmanned aerial vehicles to be used in Iraq and Afghanistan. Aug 16, 2007

The U.S. Navy on Friday awarded an $8.6 million contract boost to Boeing to manufacture spare parts for the V-22 Osprey aircraft. Aug 16, 2007

Boeing admitted it faces "significant pressure" with assembly, system integration and structural testing still to be finalized in advance of the 787's first flight. "We've put additional dollars and resources into places we consider risk areas, so we're doing everything possible to meet that date," the spokesperson said. The company plans to update analysts and media on the program on Sept. 5. Aug 14, 2007

Boeing is "confident" that its contingency plans will ensure the 787 is delivered on time to ANA next May even if the aircraft's first flight is pushed back to October. "We're targeting first flight by the end of September, but [Chairman, President and CEO] Jim McNerney also said that target date could move well into the fall as well as we proceed to work on the stuff in front of us," a 787 program spokesperson told. "We have contingency plans in place to protect the May '08 first delivery in the event that the first flight moves." McNerney made his remarks during Boeing's second-quarter conference call last month. Aug 14, 2007

Liability an issue in foreign sales of anti-terror tech said Boeing. A Boeing official says product liability issues are a concern with international sales of anti-terror technology. The official added that inside the U.S., companies are protected from product liability lawsuits by the 2002 Safety Act. Such protections are not available in Europe. Aug 14, 2007

Boeing 787 first flight's timing is the subject of speculation, with some media suggesting an October date rather than late September. However, Boeing Chairman Jim McNerney hinted at the delay late last month during the announcement of the company's second-quarter results. If the 787 does fly in mid October, say Oct. 15, it will be 99 days after rollout, the same time lapse for the A380 but way ahead of the first 747, which flew 132 days after its rollout date of Sept. 30, 1968. One of the shortest lapses between rollout and first flight was for the DC-10, which rolled out on July 23, 1970, under its own power--the first commercial jet to do so--and flew just 37 days later. A typical time lapse between rollout and first flight of a commercial jet is 60-90 days. Aug 13, 2007

Boeing's 2007 order book stood at a net 698 following orders for 777s from Air New Zealand and Cathay Pacific Airways added last week. Qatar Airways 787 order, all but confirmed by the airline last month, still is listed as unidentified. As of July 31, Airbus trailed by just 10 net orders with 688. Aug 13, 2007

Air Force wants fixed price on tankers. The Air Force is pushing Boeing and the team led by Northrop Grumman to offer a fixed price for as many as 80 refueling tanker planes, almost half the planned order. That's a deviation from past contests, in which the service took bids on only the first production batches and then negotiated the rest of the cost with the contract winner. The change will delay the award of the $40 billion program to December at the earliest. Aug 16, 2007

Boeing will supply GoldCare lifecycle support services to Rolls-Royce plc for the UK company's Trent 1000 engine TotalCare program. The GoldCare Material Management agreement announced today provides repair and overhaul for 787 Dreamliner underwing rotable airplane components as an option for Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 TotalCare service agreements. This allows Rolls-Royce to integrate support of these components into TotalCare to provide a more complete solution for the Trent 1000. More than 500 Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines have been ordered for the Boeing 787, and 80 percent of all Trent customers since 2001 have selected TotalCare services. Aug 16, 2007

Kuwait Airways' orders up in the air. Kuwait Airways' planned $3 billion in orders for new planes may be blocked by members of parliament angry that the state-owned carrier didn't provide them enough information prior to inking deals with Boeing and Airbus. The order for 12 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and seven Airbus A320s requires parliamentary approval. Aug 14, 2007

Boeing and Virgin Atlantic Airways said today that the airline will use Boeing's Airplane Health Management system to monitor the in-flight condition of its 747-400 fleet. The announcement adds momentum to a growing partnership focused on reducing the environmental impact of air travel. In April, Boeing and Virgin Atlantic said they will work together to reduce fuel burn and cut aircraft emissions on the ground as well as developing sustainable biofuels suitable for commercial jet engines and the aviation industry. Aug 15, 2007

Virgin Atlantic's 13 Boeing 747-400s will use Boeing's Airplane Health Management to gather and evaluate critical in-flight data on the real-time flying condition of the airplanes, information that can be used across the enterprise to identify and address efficiency issues. Airplane Health Management gives airlines significant insight as to the condition of airplanes in the sky, providing in-flight access to fuel-burn information so airlines can identify and correct problems that might be wasting fuel. Aug 15, 2007

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