Japan market a key to Boeing’s global Dreamliner plan

Published 9:00 pm Friday, September 19, 2003

TOKYO — The Boeing Co. sees great potential in the Japanese airline market, as well as the rest of the world, for its proposed 7E7 jet, a company official said Friday.

"We think we have a real winner in this product," said Boeing director Randy Tinseth, who is in charge of marketing, during a visit to Tokyo.

Boeing plans to sell 2,000 to 3,000 of the midsized 7E7 Dreamliner jets in the next 20 years, although it does not have a regional breakdown for the sales, Tinseth said.

The 7E7 jets, which will carry 200 to 250 passengers, will be lighter and more fuel efficient than current models. The planes will have wider aisles and more cabin humidity, and passengers will feel as if they are flying at a lower altitude than in other airplanes, according to Boeing.

The suppliers will be announced later this year for the proposed jet, which would make its first flight in 2007 and be delivered the following year if Boeing directors give final approval to the project. Boeing is in talks with 50 airlines about the new jet, Tinseth said.

Boeing expects airplane demand to remain strong over the next 20 years, with airlines adding more than 24,000 planes, 18,000 of them in growth and nearly 6,000 in replacement planes. Tinseth said Boeing does not have a market share forecast.

Boeing has been struggling amid a slump in the commercial aviation market, posting a second straight quarterly loss for the April-June period.

But in the long run, demand for air travel will grow and the 7E7 will be attractive for both short-distance and long-distance flights for Japanese and other carriers, Tinseth said. Airlines in the Asia-Pacific region are expected to need about 6,200 new planes in the next 20 years, he said.

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