Courting California and tanker support
Published 9:00 pm Monday, May 28, 2007
Just a few months ago, the Boeing Co. seemed a safe bet to win a multi-billion dollar competition to provide the U.S. Air Force with aerial refueling tankers. Its chief competitor, consortium Northrop Grumman-EADS, was considering dropping out of the competition because the duo felt the bid already favored Boeing.
At the time, many industry-watchers believed Boeing had the bid wrapped up. Boeing already has experience producing the commercial version of its tanker offering, the Everett-built 767. And it seems unlikely, analysts argued, that Congress will sign a check for tankers based off a plane — the A330 — that the United States contends came about because of unfair subsidies that its maker — Airbus — received from European countries. Tanker competitor EADS is the parent company of Airbus. The United States and European Union are arguing their cases in front of the World Trade Organization.
But Boeing’s dominance in the tanker competition had been dampened a bit in recent weeks. As it awaits the outcome of the Air Force bid, Boeing has been building 767 tankers for both Italy and Japan. The company is two years behind in delivering Italy’s tanker. And, as reported earlier, the Japanese government has rejected the first completed tanker because the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration won’t certify a pressurization valve (for more on this topic, http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/07/05/19/100loc_a1tanker001.cfm).
As analyst Scott Hamilton points out in his weekly commentary (www.leeham.net), Boeing’s tardiness and its inability to get FAA certification for the KC-767 may present more of a problem for winning the Air Force contract than previously reported.
Perhaps that explains the timing of the press release Boeing issued today about the economic impacts its tanker program has on … California. See the details in Boeing’s press release, http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2007/q2/070529b_nr.html. The announcement provides some positive news for Boeing’s tanker program and gives the members of California’s significant congressional delegation a reason to back Boeing’s bid.
