Paris Air Show
Aerospace |
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Boeing Describes
Three New Airplanes
Paris (June 15, 1997) -- "Our wake-up call was when BMA bought A321s," said Ron Woodard, president of Boeing's Commercial Aircraft group as he announced a new 737-900 model. "Some customers want aircraft that provide lower seat mile costs, but are the same size as a 757 without the performance." The program should be formally launched in the next 4-5 months. Another new program, ultra-long range 777 models, dubbed the 777-200
and 777-300, The -200 would fly up to 8,500 nautical miles. The -300 would
fly more than 6,500 nautical miles.Woodard expects this program to be launched
by the end of the year.
And still a third - the 747-400X. This would be the same size as the current 747-400, but would be for increased gross weight, able to carry up to 30,000 lbs. up to 8,000 nautical miles. A stretch version would add 16% more capacity, up to 10% lower seat-mile costs and a range slightly less than the current -400. Boeing feels that the new 777 and 747 models will meet the need for more non-stop flights on long-haul routes, a condition the company believes will occur as a results of market fragmentation over the Pacific. When asked about a 600-seat aircraft, Woodard responded that Boeing currently has versions of the 747 in Japan that seat up to 550, with the capability to offer those versions at around 600 seats. The answer seemed to preclude any announcement of a new focus on a -500 or -600, the super jumbo concepts of less than one year ago. Boeing's position has been to consider the product when a market emerges. Airbus so far has been unable to demonstrate a given market for the 500+ seat concept A3XX, despite consistent work in developing partners for the program. Woodard added, "What Airbus does with the A3XX has nothing to do with our plans for the 747 family. We don't believe the numbers support the economics." Woodard said Boeing has no plans to re-enter the regional airplane market after its disposition of De Havilland. His reasoning? "Too competitive," meaning there's simply not enough money in it. He also declined to speculate on the integration of McDonnell Douglas
models, should the proposed merger go through. He stated that sales of Douglas
commercial aircraft have been declining for some time and the company was
not in a financial position to invest in those products. Since Boeing has
no way of investigating Douglas' aircraft cost structure or product strategy
until the merger goes through, it's difficult to gauge how the products
would fit in with Boeing's. Woodard deftly skirted discussion about the
MD-95 while observing that the product fit fairly obviously in the same
category as models in the 737 family. |
