Boeing Commercial Airplanes boss Scott Carson revealed at the Farnborough Air Show today that the manufacturer is ready and willing to step back into financing customer aircraft.
"There's a likelihood we'll have to do that, and we have taken the steps to do that when needed," he said during his set piece opening day press conference.
As recently as mid-June, during the Commercial Airlines Online London financing conference, Boeing was denying that it would be forced to re-enter the aircraft financing arena.
While he recognises that the industry crisis caused by high fuel prices is hitting airlines hard,
A handful of carriers have deferred some deliveries for a "year or two", he said, but so far Boeing has received "no cancellations". The strong replacement market for older less fuel efficient types is one of the reasons for
However,
Boeing has radically pared back its customer financing in recent years to virtually nothing in terms of helping airlines with new deliveries.
On the same subject, John Leahy, Airbus chief operating officer customers, said at Farnborough on Monday that while he is expecting airline financing from Airbus to "go up a bit" in future, he does not see a big hike in this activity.
The manufacturer is at its lowest ever level of providing financing to customers, he added. "But we do it if we have to," he said.
"The best thing to do is to use our partners," said Leahy, referring to aircraft lessors. Airbus is more a financier of last resort. "We would be more of a last resort if we have to provide financing," he said, and it would almost certainly be more expensive financing than lessors or other financial institutions.
So far, the work Airbus has been doing with lessors to ensure customers can finance their deliveries was "working", he said.
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