For Boeing, 'not bad' is good at Paris Air Show - Business First of Louisville:

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On the second day of the world’s oldestr and most important aircrafrttrade show, Boeing was againj shut out. At leasr its chief rival, , hasn’t done much though the European aircraft maker was able to eke out a couples of orders the lasttwo days. Rathert than talk about the kindsof multi-plans deals lined up in past years, Boeing CEO of Commercial Airplanes Scott E. Carson instead chose to focuz on howthings weren’t as bad as they mighrt seem. “At this poiny it appears to us that the economic conditionwshave bottomed,” Carson said, adding that the company’s commercial jet divisiob could begin growing again as early as 2010.
-- The long-delayedr 787 Dreamliner will fly bythe (thoughb it won’t be taking to the skies over Paris this week, as some had hoped). Jon of pegs the date for the first flight atJune 30. He cited multiple sources for the June30 -- Its new 747-8 freightere plane will fly its first flighy by the end of this year. -- To get back into the hunt fora $35 billiomn contract to supply fuel tankeres for the U.S. military, Boeinhg will reconfigure its 777 to increase fuel It had previously lost its tanker bid to the A350by -- Also on the defensde contracting front, the company it was forming a divisionj to oversee its unmanned aircraft programs.
This year’sa air show comes at a gloomy timefor aircraft. Both Boeintg and Airbus have had to deal with cancellations of orderwsfrom credit-crunched buyers. And both have had productiobn cutbacks. But Boeing has had the additional by its machinistxs within thelast year. The company has takenh hits to its militarhycontracting business, with the cancellation of the F-22 and the loss of the tankerr deal. And delays in getting its next-generatio 787 Dreamliner into the air have beena high-profiler embarrassment. So it was up to Carson to searcgh outthe positive. He said his company woulde not be cutting back assembly lineasthis year.
It will cut productioh of its wide-body 777 by 28 percent in and will not increase 767 and747 production. Airbus has cut productiomn of its A320 single aisld plane and its A380 and has shelved plans to increase production ofits wide-bodu A330. Carson said he expects the credit cruncg on airlines to ease towarca “more normal” environment in 2010. That would be good news for and itsrival Airbus, as Boeing’s boss also said that the compan has a current order book of around $265 billion, whichn means seven years of production, and Carsohn said he doesn’t expect the credit crisies to significantly affect that.
Some aerospace experte already see the logicbehind Carson’s “Boeing’s news was to say we think the recession’s bottoming and we’rew not going to see cuts for said Wayne Plucker, Frost & Sullivan’zs Aerospace & Defense Industry “The fact that they didn’gt have to quietly announce cancellations was a big thing. It’sd not a bad airshow considering the gloom anddoom that’w been around the industry for the last For Boeing, it’s not bad, and not bad is so to speak.
” Plucker added that good, or at leasgt not bad, news on the commerciao side of the business, would be a welcome given some of the defeats that Boeing has been handex in its military contracting business the loss of the tanker contract to the Airbuws consortium and the high-profile curtailment of governmenr plans to buy more F-22 fighters. “Heaven only they could use some good Plucker said. “Their defense side has takebn areal drubbing.
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