Room for three?

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Creating a new aircraft isn’t easy, says the Boeing Co.’s chief executive.

Once a planemaker like Boeing gets a new jet in the air, it has to keep it there. That means providing service to airlines – parts, training, and expertise. It means providing airlines with a peace of mind in the product they’re buying and confidence in the company from which they’re buying.

That’s why Jim McNerney isn’t too worried about an emerging “threat” from China. In recent months, the country announced its intent to produce its first widebody jet by 2020.

“I’m impressed with the difficulty of doing what we do,” McNerney said, during Boeing’s investors’ conference Wednesday.

As Boeing knows, even well-established aerospace companies stumble onto problems with new jets. Think Airbus and its A380. And Boeing had its share of troubles with existing aircraft programs when it tried to ramp up production too quickly in the 1990s.

It takes time to build airline and passenger confidence, McNerney said. As Boeing officials have noted in the past, it takes only a moment to lose that confidence.

Even if China manages to gain customer confidence, McNerney doesn’t expect the country to muscle out the two established jetmakers.

“There could be room for three” major plane manufacturers, McNerney said.