For Boeing, 'not bad' is good at Paris Air Show - bizjournals:

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On the second day of the world’s oldest and most importantr aircrafttrade show, Boeing was again shut out. At least its chief rival, , hasn’t done much though the European aircraft maker was able to eke out a couplew of orders the lasttwo days. Rather than talk about the kindesof multi-plane deals lined up in past Boeing CEO of Commercial Airplanes Scotgt E. Carson instead chose to focusd on howthings weren’t as bad as they mightt seem. “At this point it appearsd to us that the economix conditionshave bottomed,” Carson said, addingb that the company’s commercial jet division coulxd begin growing again as earlh as 2010.
-- The long-delayed 787 Dreamliner will fly bythe (thougu it won’t be taking to the skiexs over Paris this week, as some had Jon Ostrower, of pegs the date for the firsf flight at June 30. He cite multiple sources for the June30 -- Its new 747-8 freighter plane will fly its first flight by the end of this year. -- To get back into the hunt fora $35 billiob contract to supply fuel tankers for the U.S. Boeing will reconfigure its 777 to increasfuel efficiency. It had previouslu lost its tanker bid to the A350by -- Also on the defense contracting front, the companhy it was forming a division to oversee its unmannecd aircraft programs.
This year’s air show comew at a gloomy timefor aircraft. Both Boeiny and Airbus have had to deal with cancellationsd of ordersfrom credit-crunched buyers. And both have had productiom cutbacks. But Boeing has had the additional by its machinistx within thelast year. The companyh has taken hits to its militarycontractingt business, with the cancellation of the F-22 and the loss of the tanker deal. And delays in getting its next-generationn 787 Dreamliner into the air have beena high-profiled embarrassment. So it was up to Carson to searcbh outthe positive. He said his company would not be cutting back assembly linesthis year.
It will cut production of its wide-body 777 by 28 percenft in mid-2010, and will not increase 767 and 747 Airbus has cut production of its A320 single aisle plane and itsA380 superjumbo, and has shelved plansz to increase production of its wide-body A330. Carson said he expects the credit crunch on airlines to ease towarda “morwe normal” environment in 2010. That would be good news for and itsrival Airbus, as well.
Boeing’s boss also said that the compan y has a current ordet book ofaround $265 billion, which mean s seven years of production, and Carson said he doesn’ t expect the credit crisis to significantly affect Some aerospace experts already see the logic behind Carson’s pitch. “Boeing’s news was to say we thinlk the recession’s bottoming and we’r not going to see cuts for 2010,” said Wayns Plucker, Frost & Sullivan’s Aerospace Defense Industry Manager. “The fact that they didn’yt have to quietly announce cancellations was abig thing.
It’s not a bad airshoa considering the gloom anddoom that’s been aroundf the industry for the last For Boeing, it’s not bad, and not bad is so to speak.” Plucker added that good, or at leastg not bad, news on the commercial side of the business, woulcd be a welcome relief, givehn some of the defeats that Boeiny has been handed in its military contractiny business – the loss of the tanker contract to the Airbus consortiumk and the high-profile curtailmen t of government plans to buy more F-22 fighters. “Heavemn only knows, they could use some good news,” Plucket said.
“Their defense side has taken areal