Boeing says it lost $2.6 billion in first quarter sales due to its 40-day engineers' strike. Revenues of $9.9 billion were down by more than 30% on the same period last year. The company says that without the strike, more deliveries and higher cash flow would have boosted the figure to $12.5 billion, or 13% down on 1999.
Commercial Airplanes sales fell 47% to $5.17 billion and operating profit by 35% to $259 million. Company first quarter net profits of $418 million were down 11%, but cost cutting initiatives saw operating margins improve to 5.6%, against 5.1% in the period last year.
Boeing claims airliner delivery will be on schedule by the end of this quarter. Seventy-five aircraft were delivered in the first quarter, 50 fewer than planned, but chairman and chief executive Phil Condit says "around 180" will be delivered this quarter, on track for the 490 aircraft year-end target. Full-year revenues of around $50 billion are projected.
Source: Flight International
