Boeing keeps eye on service

The lights inside a Renton gallery fade from Boeing Co. blue to Qantas Airways' red with the swipe of an electronic card.

A screen in the entry way shows Qantas' fleet of Boeing aircraft broken out by model. And a 3-D display generates alternating options for aircraft interiors -- updated sidewalls and lighting.

It's in this site where The Boeing Co. talks with customers about services the company offers after Boeing delivers the jet. Although this side of the commercial airplanes division gets less media attention, it's an area that Boeing wants to grow.

"When the airplane leaves Boeing Field (with a customer), it's like a baton is passed on to services side from production," said Lou Mancini, Boeing's senior vice president of commercial services, during a media presentation last week.

Services make up about 15 percent of commercial airplanes' revenue, Mancini said. And that has been growing over the last decade. Ultimately, Boeing aims to provide services from the moment an airline considers which aircraft to buy through the jet's life, he said.

The company's services group provides training for pilots, crew and maintenance workers when an airline takes possession of a new model of aircraft, as Boeing is gearing up to do with its 787 Dreamliner.

After an airline receives its plane, the focus shifts to materials management -- supplying spare parts for repair or maintenance to airlines. The company makes about 8,000 parts shipments daily, Mancini said. That number increased from 4,000 when, in 2006, Boeing bought Aviall, which had a greater focus on engine spares than did Boeing.

With increasingly sophisticated electronics systems in its aircraft, Boeing is able to provide a health management service for planes like the 787. If a minor problem occurs during flight, the health monitoring service can communicate it to the pilot, letting him or her know it's not a flight risk. The system then can communicate the problem to the maintenance center on the ground, where a spare part will be located and sent to the jet's destination.

If everything works smoothly, the airline essentially knows the problem and has a solution ready before the aircraft lands.

"It's a huge advantage over waiting for a flight to land," Mancini said.

As an airline's fleet ages, it may look to refresh the jets' interiors. While Boeing doesn't specialize in items like seats, it can help customers choose new sidewalls and lighting and its image gallery gives them a feel for what the interior will look like before they decide, said Darrell Hokuf, a marketing manager for Boeing's services business. Other airlines may choose to turn older passenger planes into freighters or add fuel-saving winglets to specific models of aircraft. Both are services Boeing offers, he said.

"We're getting to where we can provide the whole solution," Mancini said.