Friday, July 03, 2009

DTN News: Boeing Orders Plunge As Dreamliner Purchases Dropped

DTN News: Boeing Orders Plunge As Dreamliner Purchases Dropped
*Sources: DTN News / Bloomberg By Susanna Ray
(NSI News Source Info) NEW YORK - July 3, 2009: Boeing Co., which indefinitely delayed its new 787 Dreamliner in June to reinforce the wing section, lost orders for 73 of the jets this year after Qantas Airways Ltd. dropped 15 planned purchases last week. The company has also won purchase agreements for 13 Dreamliners, bringing the total order book to 850 planes valued at $151.1 billion at the average list price, according to today’s Web site update. Boeing said 17 orders for commercial aircraft were dropped in the past week, and it gained nine new ones. The world’s second-biggest commercial-plane maker also said today it delivered 125 aircraft in the second quarter, one fewer than in the same period a year earlier, as orders dried up because of the slowing economy. Boeing plans to ship 480 to 485 aircraft this year, about the same as its larger commercial rival, Airbus SAS. The planemakers get paid upon delivery. The shipments from April to June included 99 of the 737 single-aisle jet, the world’s most widely flown plane, and 21 of the 777 wide-body, Chicago-based Boeing said in a statement. Airlines canceled and deferred orders this year as the global recession reduced demand and profits. Boeing won 57 orders for all its commercial models in the second quarter, down from 187 in the same period last year. The second quarter included the Paris Air Show, which traditionally hosts order signings worth billions. During this year’s show, Boeing sold just three 737s. There were 85 orders and 84 cancellations through June, leaving Boeing with a mid-year net order book of just one plane. Toulouse, France-based Airbus hasn’t yet released its figures. Unfilled Orders Boeing still has unfilled orders for 3,469 aircraft, or about seven years of work, after airlines placed record orders in the three years through 2007. Boeing fell $1.39, or 3.3 percent, to $40.84 at 4:12 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have dropped 60 percent since the first of five delays to the Dreamliner was unveiled in October 2007. The most recent delay was announced June 23, when Boeing said ground stress tests caused some composite layers to separate where the wings attach to the body. The 787’s maiden flight was to have taken place by June 30, with the first delivery in the first quarter of 2010. To contact the reporter on this story: Susanna Ray in Seattle at sray7@bloomberg.net.

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