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Aviation History
2001
2001 - 0159.PDF
Healthy sales lead to higher order backlog for Boeing MAX KINGSLEY-JONES/LONDON ASTRONG SALES perfor mance by Boeing last year combined with a reining in of its output has seen the US manufac turer's order backlog grow by 100 aircraft to over 1,600 units. This reverses the recent trend, which has seen Boeing's commercial backlog declining from around 1,800 aircraft two vears ago to a low of 1,500 units at the end of 1999. Boeing's 2000 output fell by around 20%, from the record 620 units in 1999 to 489 aircraft, worth an estimated $38.5 billion. Net order intake (less 22 cancella tions) was up two thirds to 589 aircraft, worth almost $50 billion (values based on average list prices). Comparison with Airbus is not possible as the European manufac turer has delayed the release of its full year figures. Data to the end of November, however, shows that Airbus was trailing its rival by around 100 orders. Strong Boeing sellers last year included the 737 and 777, taking 391 orders and 117 orders respec tively. The latter experienced a renaissance last year, thanks to the launch of the new General Electric GE90-powered -200LR/300ER variants. The 757's fortunes also improved in 2000, as the market began to materialise for the stretched -300 model. The 43 • :.',ldl!!*\l:lll!ld;|.];!.!J:y Deliveries 717 737-3/4/5 737-6/7/8/9 747 757 767 777 Total McDonnell Dougl MD-11 MD-80 MD-90 Total 32 2 279 25 45 44 55 482 ss types 4 0 3 7 Boeing/MDC total 489 •l'( ill*T;i: il:WilHI.!«J.!.!l 2000 Orders Cancelled Net Orders 21 0 391 27 43 12 117 611 0 0 0 0 611 0 0 -10 -2 0 -6 -4 -22 0 0 0 0 -22 21 0 381 25 43 6 113 589 0 0 0 0 589 Backlog 107 0 1,016 77 79 84 247 1,610 2 0 0 2 1,612 1999 )eliveries 12 42 278 47 67 44 83 573 8 26 13 47 620 Net Orders 15 12 246 22 18 32 21 366 0 0 -20 -20 346 orders that the twinjet secured has arrested the slide in its backlog, which has stabilised at around 80 aircraft - still one of the smallest totals of all the Boeing types. Less encouraging was the 767's lack of success - the twinjet took only 12 orders last year. Although the recently launched extended range -400ERX model is likely to boost its flagging, fortunes, this air craft is a few years from production and unlesSjSales of the in- service models improve, a production rate cut may be on the cards. The 747 has faired better than Boeing predicted, mainly due to the 747-400 freighter which accounted for half of the 27 orders placed last year. The 2000 order intake neatly offsets the 747 's production level, which is running at around two per month. Last year saw the final deliveries of the 737 Classic, as well as the demise of production at Long Beach, California, of the former McDonnell Douglas (MDC) types - the MD-80/90 and MD-11 (two aircraft remain for delivery to Lufthansa early this year). This leaves just the DC-9-based 717- 200 twinjet as the only airliner in production at the California plant. Heralded by Boeing over and above the similarly sized 737-600 as its offering in the 100-seater cat egory, market interest in the 717- 200 remains sluggish with just 21 sales in die last 12 months. Annual output at Boeing is rising again to stabilise at around 530 air craft for the next couple of years. This means that the US manufac turer's 1,600 aircraft backlog, which is worth an estimated $127 billion, equates to a healthy three years worth of production. • Start-up GTA promises low fare flights in Brazil LOW-COST Brazilian start-up Gol Transportes Aereos (GTA) was due to launch Sao Paulo-Brasilia services on 15 January as the first link in a planned network of 14 destinations. GTA, styled on low-cost opera tors Southwest Airlines in the USA and the UK's easyjet, plans to operate low fare flights to Brazilian destinations including Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Fortaleza, Natal and Recife. The airline is using 10 Boeing 737-700s leased from General Electric1 Capital Aviation Services (GECAS), Boeing Capital Aviation and Bouillion Aviation Services. Services will begin with two GECAS aircraft, and a further four will come from Boeing Capital in the next five months. The balance will come from Bouillion and GECAS in the second half of this year, with plans to grow to 20 air craft by 2 003. GTA will be a 'paper less' carrier, with digital access to Boeing's maintenance and spares system, and electronic tickets. The airline, part of Brazilian bus company owner Grupo Aurea, will compete with TAM, Transbrasil, VarigandVASP. • ROUTES ++ Aer Lingus will codeshare with British Airways on the Newcastle- Dublin route from 25 March, with flights to be operated by Brymon Airways' Bombardier Dash 8s. The agreement follows Aer Lingus' withdrawal from the route with the phase-out of its Fokker 50s. ++ World Airways will operate three return flights to Mecca from late this month until early April for Hadj pilgrims in a $16 million deal with Garuda Indonesia. The flights, operated by Boeing MD-lls, will carry pilgrims from Borneo and Sumatra in Indonesia to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. World Airways has been operating Hadj flights for Garuda since 1974. ++ Korean Air will drop the Seoul-Boston sec tor of its three times weekly Seoul- Boston-Washington route on 1 February due to lack of demand. ++ Northwest Airlink will operate four times daily all-jet services between Pensacola Regional Airport and Northwest's Memphis, Tennessee, hub from 3 March, replacing a Saab 340 turboprop with Bombardier CRJ200s. Memphis-Chattanooga services will also become an all-jet opera tion from 2 March. ++ Delta Connection carrier Atlantic Southeast Airlines will begin a regional jet service between Delta's Atlanta hub and Ottawa, Canada, on 1 April, with two daily flights using CRJ200s. ++ Caribbean carrier LIAT has launched de Havilland Twin Otter services between Antigua and Canefield, Dominica, operated by partner airline Carib Aviation. Meanwhile, Air Caraibes is oper ating services between St Lucia and Canefield with onward con nections from St Lucia to points south in the LIAT network. ++ Midway Airlines il introduce twice daily services between Raleigh- Durham and Denver, Colorado, on 14 February. ++ Mahan Air of Iran was due to launch weekly services between Tehran and Seoul via Bangkok on 15 January following approval from the South Korean Government, according to Flight International's sister online ser vice Air Transport Intelligence. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 16 - 22 January 2001
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