Healthy sales lead to higher order backlog for Boeing

Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON

A strong sales performance by Boeing last year combined with a reining in of its output has seen the US manufacturer's order backlog grow by 100 aircraft to over 1,600 units. This reverses the recent trend, which has seen Boeing's commercial backlog declining from around 1,800 aircraft two years ago to a low of 1,500 units at the end of 1999.

Boeing's 2000 output fell by around 20%, from the record 620 units in 1999 to 489 aircraft, worth an estimated $38.5 billion. Net order intake (less 22 cancellations) was up two thirds to 589 aircraft, worth almost $50 billion (values based on average list prices).

Comparison with Airbus is not possible as the European manufacturer has delayed the release of its full year figures. Data to the end of November, however, shows that Airbus was trailing its rival by around 100 orders.

Strong Boeing sellers last year included the 737 and 777, taking 391 orders and 117 orders respectively. The latter experienced a renaissance last year, thanks to the launch of the new General Electric GE90-powered -200LR/300ER variants.

The 757's fortunes also improved in 2000, as the market began to materialise for the stretched -300 model. The 43 orders that the twinjet secured has arrested the slide in its backlog, which has stabilised at around 80 aircraft - still one of the smallest totals of all the Boeing types.

Less encouraging was the 767's lack of success - the twinjet took only 12 orders last year. Although the recently launched extended range -400ERX model is likely to boost its flagging fortunes, this aircraft is a few years from production and unless sales of the in- service models improve, a production rate cut may be on the cards.

The 747 has faired better than Boeing predicted, mainly due to the 747-400 freighter which accounted for half of the 27 orders placed last year. The 2000 order intake neatly offsets the 747's production level, which is running at around two per month.

Last year saw the final deliveries of the 737 Classic, as well as the demise of production at Long Beach, California, of the former McDonnell Douglas (MDC) types - the MD-80/90 and MD-11 (two aircraft remain for delivery to Lufthansa early this year). This leaves just the DC-9-based 717-200 twinjet as the only airliner in production at the California plant. Heralded by Boeing over and above the similarly sized 737-600 as its offering in the 100-seater category, market interest in the 717-200 remains sluggish with just 21 sales in the last 12 months.

Annual output at Boeing is rising again to stabilise at around 530 aircraft for the next couple of years. This means that the US manufacturer's 1,600 aircraft backlog, which is worth an estimated $127 billion, equates to a healthy three years worth of production.

Source: Flight International