Boeing has been busy reinventing itself since the shambles of the late 1990s, when it began to cede its decades long dominance of the airliner industry. The new-look corporation which re-emerged at the Paris air show was strong on big ideas, but will they fly?
It has been all too easy to heap criticism on Boeing. The Paris air show again gave the critics a field day as Airbus trounced its rival with a stream of new business. Boeing managed only three 777 orders from Japan Airlines, its most faithful customer, arguing that showcasing order announcements was no longer the point. Instead it turned the spotlight onto its big new ideas - the sonic cruiser, and a radical air traffic control (ATC)vision were prime among them. Rivals simply scoffed. While it is true that its ideas are long on vision and short on immediate delivery, this new-look Boeing deserves a fairer hearing than many have been prepared to give.
It is true that the company has still some distance to go before its reinvention as a new-age corporation is complete. The folksy informality now being presented to the world - perhaps borrowed from Seattle neighbours such as Microsoft and Amazon.com - can take some getting used to, especially for a management team which until recently had seemed more comfortable in button-down shirts and dark ties. But Boeing is clearly trying to break from its perception as a corporation run by and for engineers.
The move of headquarters to Chicago, although it involves only a few hundred staff, also marks a visible break with its cosy roots on the Pacific coast. Chairman Phil Condit tells a story from his early days with the company, when a report on "foreign object damage" was returned from the censors reading "non-US object damage". Now Boeing means to think global and think big.
There is certainly no lack of ambition in the new thinking. Witness the unveiling ceremony of a new scale model of the sonic cruiser at Paris. Alan Mulally, president of the commercial airplanes group, accompanied by a futurist commentator, took the opportunity to preach the vision of a new jet age and enthused about this "way cool! "design changing "the way the world flies". The atmosphere was that of a revivalist rally. Perhaps in some ways it was.
The same ambition is visible across the other big projects. The ATC proposal, now in front of the Federal Aviation Administration, is for a complete turnkey navigation system complete with a whole new satellite array and allowing for a wholesale redesign of US airspace. Not only that, but this project makes not direct call for tax-payer funding. Privately Boeing admits that it is designed to kick-start the stalled ATC debate with an offer that Congress will find it difficult to ignore. Unless something is done to relieve congestion, Boeing figures that its vision of 21st Century aviation - with freedom for passenger to fly where and when they wish - will remain stuck on the runway.
Another of Boeing's big ideas is the Connexion concept, providing a two-way digital link between aircraft cabin and the ground. In short, every passenger will be able to sit back and use e-mail, browse the Internet or watch live television. Also at the air show, American, Delta and United Airlines signed up to the concept, promising to equip their fleets in exchange for a stake in the business.
At root, all of these projects share at least a couple of fundamentals. First, they represent a conscious attempt to think outside the box, borrowing heavily on the themes of consumer choice and personal empowerment much beloved by evangelists of the new-economy. Sonic cruiser is a case in point. After decades of measured improvements on the familiar themes of size, range, comfort and efficiency, it promises the customers what they really want - speed.
"Most of us get into airplanes not for the wonderful experience of flying but to get where we want to go as quickly and directly as possible," says Mulally. That realisation has long been dawning on airlines looking for market advantage, but has, until now, not been a mainstream driver of aircraft programmes. Even if the sonic cruiser concept fails, it has at least started a welcome debate about how airline marketing and network strategy feeds into fleet selection. Issues of segmentation, fragmentation and differentiation become mainstream concerns in a process which for too long has been dominated by engineering and finance.
The second theme which the projects have in common is that they all make a virtue of Boeing's new-found scale and breadth. John Hayhurst, who heads the ATC business, proudly boasts of bringing together expertise from across defence and civil aerospace, systems and satellites. Besides, few others have the scale or the financial muscle to take on this massive project management task.
Now Boeing just has to deliver. If it fails, then the game will be up. Customers are unlikely to forget and forgive if these programmes are quietly dropped, especially not after the 747X experience. But if Boeing can succeed, then the whole of aviation could ultimately be better off for the presence of a heavyweight with a sense of vision.
Source: Airline Business
