Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief executive Scott Carson believes economic recovery is in sight, and that could enable the airframer to get through the recession without more production rate cuts.

"It feels like we're bouncing off the bottom," he says. Citing the latest economic data that Boeing tracks, he says: "It feel to us like the middle of next year is when we will see growth return to the industry." But he tempered this upbeat outlook, warning: "There is certainly no certainty in being able to predict the future."

Carson says Boeing continues "to review both the upside and the down" of production, evaluating customer needs and whether to increase or decrease rates. "If the economic conditions have bottomed and there is a recovery and the available capital to support it, then I think we have a shot at getting through and holding the rates where they are," he says.

Speaking specifically about changes to the production rates for its freighter products, Carson says: "The next six months will be incredibly important to us as we watch to see if inventory rebuilding begins, which I believe it will, and whether it is maritime or air freight. If that takes place with air freight then it feels like we can manage the risks there."

The airframer's near-term outlook for commercial aircraft is less rosy however, with Carson conceding that the industry faces "a different year" in 2009 to the boom times that preceded it which enabled Boeing to build a backlog worth $265 billion. "The value of the backlog built over the past three to four years is going to be realised this year in delivery of that backlog, not the generation of it."

So far in 2009 Boeing has booked 73 new orders, but suffered 66 cancellations - mainly for the 787 - putting its net sales tally at just seven aircraft.

Source: Flight Daily News

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