Boeing Issues Statement On 747-8 Program
Boeing today confirmed to FleetBuzz Editorial.com that the 747-8F and 747-8 Intercontinental programmes would be pressing ahead as planned.
“We are committed to the 747-8 program. We believe the 747-8 is a very competitive airplane with a strong future. It is worthy of investment and will be a great airplane for our cargo and passenger customers.
Clearly the financial business case is not as good as it used to be because of the delay and associated costs. But our long-term market outlook projects good demand for this product. The 747-8 Freighter has built on the 747 family’s leadership in cargo market. The 747-8 Intercontinental continues to be well positioned in the large-airplane market as the only airplane covering the 400-500 seat market,” said company spokesman Tim Bader.
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A recent furore of discussion about the 747-8 program emerged after last weeks fourth quarter earnings, in which Boeing President and CEO Jim McNerney stated:
“Look, obviously, we have applied a judgment here that says we have a very competitive airplane here that has already got a good start on orders. If we didn’t believe that the revenues would outweigh the costs, you are right, we wouldn’t go forward with it. I suppose if the airplane didn’t have the margin of competitiveness that we see on both the freighter and the passenger side right now, we would stop it.
But we are committed to customers who value this plane highly, and when you add it all up we still see a viable business proposition here. Now, obviously, if we ever got to the point where we didn’t, we’d have to work with our customers to come up with a different answer. But that’s not what we see right now.”
McNerney’s comments have been, in some quarters, deliberately misquoted and rephrased so as to cast aspersion as to whether the 747-8 programme would even see light of day, however, Boeing’s VP Marketing, Randy Tinseth today in his blog documented progress on the first 747-8F, destined for launch customer Cargolux in the third quarter of 2010.
Specifically in the case of the 747-8 Intercontinental, a spokeswoman for launch customer Lufthansa states:
“We [Lufthansa] have been informed about the ongoing Boeing examination of the B747-8 production and the consequential delivery problems. Lufthansa holds on to the ordering of 20 B747-8.“
15 comments February 3rd, 2009
