Aircraft

Information from Boeing indicates that a batch of 15 787 aircraft has been cancelled and removed from the company's backlog.

In its full-year 2008 financial figures, released today, Boeing puts its net 787 order total at 895 aircraft.

This is 19 fewer than the 914 gross orders for the 787 booked between 2004 and 2008.

Only four of these cancellations have previously been revealed: three by Xiamen Airlines in 2006 and a single reduction by Azerbaijan Airlines last year.

While these brought the net figure down to 910 by the end of December 2008, Boeing today says the 787 programme has 895 net orders from 58 customers to date.

It says this figure includes the "recent removal from the books of one customer's order" for aircraft which had been scheduled for delivery "late in the next decade".

Boeing has not identified the customer concerned.