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Seeing a silver lining to record-high fuel prices that are ripping the airline industry to shreds, Boeing's CEO predicted that the current energy crisis (or structural price shift, depending on which analyst you listen to) will drive demand for its new, energy-efficient 787 Dreamliner, the first of which is scheduled to roll off the assembly line next year.
In comments made at an investor conference, Boeing executives told analysts that more than 10,400 replacement planes will be needed in the coming decades. In the U.S. industry fleet renewal is especially pressing -- nearly 1,000 of its planes will be more than25 years old by 2015. Boeing believes that its fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly next generation jets are ideally positioned to capture much of this market. It says the 787 Dreamliner, which is being built with 50 percent composite material (vs. 12 percent for the popular 777), is 20 percent more fuel-efficient and will produce 20 percent fewer emissions than comparably sized jets.
That's all well and good, but what airline has the cash to buy new aircraft?
The airlines, especially U.S. carriers, are parking planes and hemorrhaging cash at a rate not seen since 9/11. United just took 30 planes out of circulation, and American Airlines, in addition to infuriating the flying public with a $15 checked bag charge, announced that it is mothballing 75 planes, many of them older, gas-guzzling MD80s.
Some analysts say the airline industry is facing the worst crisis in its history, more extreme than either the energy crisis of the 1970s or the traffic slump that followed the World Trade Center attacks. Hate American for charging you to check your bag, but know that the airline is losing $3 million a day.
Boeing's CEO seems nonplussed, calling the run up in oil prices "a point of concern but nothing unexpected," and confident that eventually airlines will shell out for new planes.
Though for that to happen, they'll need to still be in business.
Photo: Boeing
