July marks rise in number of Boeing aircraft ordered

Seattle: If June belonged to Airbus in terms of securing orders, then July is clearly Boeing's: the US aircraft manufacturer has secured 55 firm orders for its B787 Dreamliner.

On Friday Qantas added 20 more Dreamliners to its orders, while Kuwait-based leasing firm Alafco added 10 more 787s the following day. On Saturday evening, Air Berlin, a Boeing customer, dramatically announced firm orders for 25 Dreamliners, boosting the morale of thousands of Boeing workers.

These are on top of the 510 firm orders secured by Boeing during the first half of 2007, taking the orderbook to 565.

"This year is going to be a great year for us," Scott Carson, Boeing Commercial Airplane Co's president and chief executive officer told Gulf News.

This, however, may not be enough to beat its record sales performance last year, when Boeing's total orderbook reached 1,040 - crossing the 1,000 mark for the first time in the history of the aviation industry.

However, despite this landmark feat, Boeing could not beat Airbus in terms of numbers. Boeing's European rival crossed the 1,100 mark last year - the highest record in a year secured by any manufacturer, although in terms of value, Airbus trailed Boeing with a bigger margin.

Boeing sold more wide-bodied aircraft than Airbus, hence the value of the orders tilted towards Boeing heavily. "We see another good year for Boeing although I don't think we will break last year's record," Carson said.

Despite the commercial success of B787 with 697 pre-launch orders, the Dreamliner is trailing its rival A350XWB in the Middle East, as the region's growth-hungry carriers are seeking larger aircraft with up to 350 seats, which Boeing said it will not be able to deliver before 2013.

The 787-8 and 787-9 offer between 150 and 300 seats, lower than expectations, prompting Qatar Airways, one of the region's fastest growing carriers, to order 80 A350s.

Emirates

Another big order is expected to be announced by Emirates, which is evaluating both the B787 and A350.

"We continue to work with our customers in the Middle East. We are amazed by the growth in the Middle East," Carson said.

"We do not get discouraged by whatever is happening in some of the markets."

Boeing on Friday announced that it had pushed back the delivery of 787-X by a year to 2013, the same year Airbus said it would make the A350 commercially available. This might encourage some airlines like Emirates to shift to the A350.

"The market has been very strong for 787-8 and 787-9, so we continuously focus on delivering these two models," Carson said.

"However, we pushed back the 787-X by a year because we think the customer experience of the 787-8 and -9 will help us offer a more innovative and advanced product when we launch it later. We are extremely happy with the response to the 787-8 and -9 so far."

Capital investment

Carson said his company was open to ideas on scope for capital investment in the Middle East, to increase Boeing's involvement in the region.

"We are open to ideas on capital investment opportunities in the Middle East. We had partnered with Al Salam Aircraft Maintenance to set up a MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) facility in Saudi Arabia," he said.

Boeing last month signed a deal with Dubai Aero-space Enterprise to work together in developing Dubai's aerospace industry.

The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding at the Paris Air Show to collaborate in aircraft services, customer education, financing and maintenance, repair and overhaul operations.

A joint steering committee will be set up to oversee projects.

"The DAE has approached us on preliminary exploratory ideas and we are engaged with them to develop ideas of cooperation," he said.