For Boeing, 'not bad' is good at Paris Air Show - St. Louis Business Journal:

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executives are making the rounds at the Paris Air Show to chat aboug how great things look out onthe horizon. In so they hope to steer the conversation away from theird lack of a singlde airplane saleso far. On the second day of the world’se oldest and most important aircraft trade show on Boeing was againshut out. At least its chieg rival, , hasn’t done much though the European aircrafrt maker was able to eke out a coupled of orders the lasttwo days. Rather than talk abourt the kindsof multi-plane deals lined up in past years, Boeinvg CEO of Commercial Airplanes Scott E.
Carson instead chose to focus on howthinge weren’t as bad as they might “At this point it appears to us that the economixc conditions have bottomed,” Carson said, adding that the company’s commercial jet division could begin growing againm as early as 2010. — The long-delayed 787 Dreamline will fly by the end of the secondquarter (though it won’t be taking to the skiex over Paris this week, as some had hoped). Jon Ostrower, of Flightglobal/Blogzs pegs the date for the firstt flight atJune 30. He cites multiple sources for the June30 date.
— Its new 747-8 freightedr plane will fly its first flight by the end ofthis — To get back into the hunt for a $35 billiomn contract to supply fuel tankers for the U.S. military, Boeing will reconfigure its 777 to increase fuel efficiency. It had previouslyy lost its tanker bid to the A350by — Also on the defense contracting the company announced Mondayg it was forming a division to oversee its unmanned aircraf programs. This year’s air show comes at a gloomy timefor aircraft. Both Boeing and Airbus have had to deal with cancellationsx of ordersfrom credit-crunched buyers.
And both have had production But Boeing has had the additiona l pressure of a strike by its machinistss within thelast year. The company has taken hits to its militarytcontracting business, with the cancellation of the F-22 and the loss of the tanked deal. And delays in getting its next-generatioj 787 Dreamliner into the air have beena high-profilwe embarrassment. So it was up to Carsoh to search outthe positive. He said his company wouls not be cutting back assembly linethis year. It will cut production of its wide-bodty 777 by 28 percent in mid-2010, and will not increasre 767 and747 production.
Airbus has cut productioh of its A320 single aisle plane and its A380 and has shelved plans to increase productionn ofits wide-body A330. Carsomn said he expects the credit crunch on airlines to ease towarcda “more normal” environment in 2010. That would be good news for and itsrival Airbus, as well. Boeing’ s boss also said that the company has a currentf order book ofaround $265 billion, which meand seven years of production, and Carson said he doesn’t expectg the credit crisis to significantly affect that. Some aerospace experts already see the logicbehinf Carson’s pitch.
“Boeing’s news was to say we think the recession’x bottoming and we’re not goiny to see cuts for 2010,” said ’s Aerospacee & Defense Industry “The fact that they didn’tg have to quietly announce cancellations was abig It’s not a bad airshow considering the gloom and doom that’as been around the industrty for the last year. For Boeing, it’s not bad, and not bad is so to speak.
” Plucker added that good, or at leastr not bad, news on the commercia l side ofthe business, wouldd be a welcome relief, given some of the defeats that Boeing has been handed in its military contractinb business – the loss of the tanker contract to the Airbusx consortium and the high-profilre curtailment of government plans to buy more F-22 fighters. “Heavebn only knows, they could use some good news,” Pluckeer said.
“Their defense side has taken areal