Boeing News
Boeing Assessing Impact Of Recent 787 Delay
The AP (7/23, Lovering) reports, "Boeing Co. on Wednesday reported a 17 percent in rise in secon quarter profit to beat Wall Street expectations, but the airplane marker said it was still assessing the financial impact of the latest delay of it's new 787 jetliner." The impact and a new flight scheadule for the 787 is expected by boeing in the third quarter. Even though the company reiterated its 2009 forecast, "Peter Arment, an analyst at Broadpoint AmTech, said Boeing's guidance was unreliable because it dosen't reflect the revised 787 scheadule." The AP notes, "Despite the weaker demand, Boeing's commercial plane deliveries shipped by just one plane in the second quarter, to 125, compared with the same period a year earlier."
The Wall Street Journal (7/23, B3, Sanders) notes, "During its earnings conference call, analysts pressed Mr. McNerney and Chief Financial Officer James Bell for additional details on the" 787 program's "timetable and the cost impact on the program and the company at large." This "lack of a firm delivery timetable has thrown off" airlines' "ability to plan everything from future routes to when they retire aging aircraft." Boeing "has indicated the program has been profitable, though analysts are looking for signs that Boeing could take charge in the coming quarters once it updates cost estimates."
According to the New York Times (7/23, B3, Drew), Boeing CEO James McNerney "said Wednesday that the aircraft maker was making 'solid progress' toward fixing a structural weakness" on the 787. However, McNerney "acknowledged that trying to build a plane with mostly composite materials had been harder than expected." The NYtimes also notes that "stock analysts have....questioned how profitable the plane will be" given the delays.
The Orlando Sentinel (7/23, Burnett) reports Boeing "said its latest earnings were boosted by an increase in defense sales and significant cost reductions in its commercial airline work."
Bloomberg News (7/23, Ray), the Financial Times (7/23, Weitzman), Reuters (7/22, Peterson), Aviation Week (7/22, Anselmo, Mecham), and MarketWatch (7/22, Hinton) also covered the story.
