EVERETT — The Boeing Co.’s 767 jet got a lift recently at the expense of the fast-selling 787 Dreamliner.
Boeing listed its first order cancellation for the fuel-efficient 787 on its orders and deliveries Web site Thursday. Azerbaijan Airlines scratched one request for a 787 but placed an order for two 767s and two 737s. It’s the first order the 767 has won since February 2007.
Boeing trails European rival Airbus in both commercial jet orders and deliveries through the first seven months of the year. Boeing lists 546 orders and 277 jet deliveries for the January to July time frame. Airbus won 711 net orders and delivered 286 aircraft over those seven months.
Toulouse, France-based Airbus had 754 gross orders through July, with 43 cancellations. Five of those cancellations were for Airbus’ A310.
Boeing, which updates its orders and deliveries Web site weekly, lists 551 net orders through Wednesday. Since its last update, on July 30, the company won nine new orders. The requests include Azerbaijan’s four orders, a British Airways order for two 777s, a Delta Air Lines order for two 777s and a Boeing Business Jet order for one 737.
The Azerbaijan cancellation marks Boeing’s first for its 787, despite delivery delays that average 20 months. Boeing’s initial delivery to Japan’s All Nippon Airways has been pushed back by about 15 months. The company had problems with its global supply chain and trouble assembling the first Dreamliner.
Boeing intends to put its 787 in the air by the end of 2008, kicking off its flight testing program, which will include six 787s. A potential labor strike of either Boeing’s Machinists or engineers unions could put Boeing in danger of missing its flight test schedule and lead to another delivery delay.
Boeing executives have said they believe some 787 customers will turn to the 767 to see them through until their Dreamliners are ready. The company last order for its 767 came from DHL for six freighters. Boeing also had hoped to win a multi-billion dollar contract supplying the Air Force with aerial refueling tankers based on the commercial 767 jet. The Pentagon is rebidding the contest after government auditors faulted the Air Force for initially awarding the deal to Northrop Grumman and its partner EADS.
At the end of July, Boeing had a backlog of 45 unfilled requests for its 767. Workers in Everett have been consistently turning out one 767 monthly.
Azerbaijan Airlines ordered two 767-300 Extended Range jets and two 737-900ER’s. The carrier, based in Baku, is the national airline of Azerbaijan, the most populous nation in the Southern Caucasus region of Eurasia. Azerbaijan Airlines has a total of eight Boeing airplanes on order: four 737-900ERs, two 787-8s and two 767-300ERs.
“We are eager to build our Boeing fleet with these additional 737s and 767s to meet continued demand for air travel in our region,” said Jahangir Askerov, president of Azerbaijan Airlines, in a press release. “We look forward to operating the 787 and benefiting from its advanced performance features, however the 767-300ER is the economical and logical choice to fulfill our interim capacity targets.”
Reporter Michelle Dunlop: 425-339-3454 or mdunlop@heraldnet.com.
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