BOEING’S CHIEF executive has pledged to strike back at Airbus in the narrowbody passenger jet market, after admitting the US manufacturer took too long to decide on a new version of its single-aisle workhorse.
Jim McNerney said Boeing could secure orders for at least 1,000 of its 737 Max aircraft by the end of the year.
Yesterday, the opening day of the Farnborough air show, Air Lease Corporation, the aircraft leasing company, placed an order worth $7.2 billion at list prices for 75 Max jets, which are a more fuel-efficient version of Boeing’s existing 737 workhorse, featuring new engines.
Both Airbus and Boeing are also pushing large suppliers to buy smaller ones because of fears that weaknesses in the supply chain could undermine the aircraft makers’ plans to increase production of passenger jets.
The two passenger jet makers, which are set to increase combined production by 40 per cent because they each have an order backlog of more than 4,000 passenger jets, are worried the initiative could be jeopardised by weak suppliers. Last year Airbus and Boeing made 1,011 aircraft between them.
– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012
