UPDATE: Boeing Aircraft Orders Fall In Cooling Market
By Ann Keeton Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Boeing Co.'s (BA) commercial airplane orders fell more than 50% in 2008, as the red-hot market for new aircraft cooled following three record years of global sales.
The aerospace giant said Thursday that its commercial airplanes unit took in 662 orders last year, down from 1,407 in 2007.
A worldwide recession last year began taking its toll on airlines' plans to expand or to replace older planes. Still, Boeing said, 2008 was the eighth-best year for plane orders in the Chicago company's history. The widespread credit crunch also is making it harder to finance aircraft sales, and is likely to result in some customers' deferring or canceling orders this year.
Boeing and Airbus, its European rival, for a decade have vied for the top spot in making large jets. Although Airbus, a unit of EADS, doesn't plan to release 2008 order numbers until Jan. 15, the company said in November that it had taken 756 new plane orders, putting it in position to overtake Boeing, which had led for the two previous years.
In 2007, Airbus booked 1,341 commercial aircraft orders.
Airbus is poised to remain the leader in the number of new aircraft it delivered to customers in 2008. At the end of November, Airbus said it had already made 437 deliveries, more than Boeing's year-end total of 375 deliveries, which was down from 441 in 2007.
Airbus has said it expected to deliver more than 470 aircraft in 2008, setting a new record over the 453 aircraft delivered in 2007.
Boeing said Thursday that a machinists' strike, which shut down production for two months, resulted in 15% fewer planes reaching customers in 2008 than in 2007.
Both Boeing and Airbus have enjoyed a strong order cycle since 2005, largely fueled by the growth of new markets in Asia and the Middle East.
Both companies have racked up multi-year order backlogs, as customers warmed to updated models of older aircraft, such as Boeing's 737, which accounted for 484 orders in 2008. As well, airlines are eager to buy yet-to-be-delivered, fuel-saving models like Boeing's 787, and the Airbus A350XWB. But both aircraft have suffered long delays to their original delivery schedules.
Last month, Boeing pushed back the roll-out dates for its new 787 Dreamliner for the fourth time, due to the machinists' strike and the need to replace fasteners in some of the airplanes. The company delayed the commercial jet's first flight until the second quarter of this year, and said customers holding orders for almost 900 of the planes won't see the first deliveries until the first quarter of 2010, about two years after it was originally scheduled to enter service.
Problems with the 787 have become a growing embarrassment for Boeing, which had prided itself on delivering its jets on time. Each time, Boeing officials assured customers and investors that the new schedule would be reliable, and then were subsequently surprised by new problems.
Dreamliner delays have bled into other development programs, such as Boeing's efforts to update its 747 jumbo jet. In November, Boeing said a new version of the four-engine plane would be as much as nine months late entering the market, in part because engineering resources were being gobbled up by the Dreamliner.
Airbus, too, has suffered production delays on new aircraft, with a redesigned A350 expected to first reach customers in 2012.
Boeing shares closed Thursday up 3 cents at $44.79, but are off 45% from a 52-week high of $88.29.
-By Ann Keeton, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4120; ann.keeton@dowjones.com
(Lauren Pollock contributed to this report.)
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Publié le 08 janvier 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones
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