CHICAGO - Boeing Co. has announced a slew of new orders for its new Dreamliner jet ahead of the first test flight Wednesday of the A380 superjumbo of arch-rival Airbus Industrie.
While Boeing is still two years away from the first flight of the B787 Dreamliner, the smaller and more fuel efficient plane is already making a big dent in the long-haul market with a total of 217 orders from 18 customers made in the past year.
Air Canada and Air India were this week announced as the latest buyers of the Dreamliner, much to the disappointment of Airbus.
"Airbus does not dispute the fact that the market for 787 is bigger than for A380, but the question is: is the market anywhere as big as Airbus is assuming," said Hans Weber, president of Tecop International, a management and consulting agency.
Spending less on fuel has become an extremely important factor for airlines, Weber said.
"With the 787 the cost level is lower than any airplane. As soon as you fly a 787 you spend less money," he said adding that the 787 also requires less maintenance which means "more time flying with passengers that pay for it."
The two planes represent differing philosophies on where the long-range market is headed, said Barbara Beyer, president of aviation consulting firm Avmark.
Airbus`s larger A380 is aimed at point-to-point service between large hubs with enough volume to fill 800 seats. Boeing`s Dreamliner, which seats 300 passengers, is aimed at reducing operating costs to serve lower-volume long-haul routes.
But Boeing`s bet on smaller planes may not have taken capacity problems into account, she said.
"The trend has been to move from larger planes to smaller ones, but if the skies and the airports are too crowded that philosophy isn`t going to work well," Beyer said.
Orders to date, however, have been remarkably strong, Boeing said.
"We have never seen interest in a new program like we`ve seen in the 787, and it`s not only the volume of interest that really pleases us but it`s the broad base of customers that has stepped up to the airplane, Asian carriers, African carriers, Europe, US all kinds of business models chargers, start-up, long range," Mike Bair, vice president and general manager of the 787 program told a conference call Tuesday to mark the first anniversary of the Dreamliner`s launch.
Bair said Boeing had sold out its 2008 and 2009 deliveries and was close to doing so for 2010.
The Chicago-based company has already announced firm orders and commitments from 18 customers for a total of 217 airplanes, 69 of which are booked under firm contracts. Bair said Boeing also has active proposals for another 27 customers for a total of 449 more airplanes.
"It`s truly a phenomenal response of the market place for this magnificent airplane," he said.
Boeing will release quarterly results Wednesday. Analysts expect the airplane manufacturer to post earnings of 55 cents a share, down from 77 cents a share in the first quarter of 2004, according to Thompson First Call.
04/26/2005 17:38 GMT