SEATTLE – Borge Boeskov, the first president of Boeing Business Jets and described by an airline industry executive as “the best salesman that Boeing ever had,” has died.
Boeskov, who spent almost his entire career at Boeing before retiring two years ago, died Wednesday after a long illness a day before his 69th birthday, relatives said.
Boeskov was born in Iceland, moved with his family to Denmark when he was young and came to the United States after high school, earning a degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1965 and going to work for Boeing that same year.
He soon switched from flight operations to sales and was marketing manager for the 737, now the all-time best-selling commercial passenger jet, in 1974-78.
Boeskov left Boeing in 1983 to be vice president of sales and marking for Mitsubishi Aircraft in Texas, then returned to Boeing in 1985 and became director of southern European sales and later vice president of international sales.
In 1994, Boeskov was named to a new position as vice president of product strategy for commercial airplanes.
“He was the Ronald Reagan of our industry,” said Joe Clark, chief executive of Aviation Partners, which developed blended winglet technology, and co-founder of Horizon Airlines. “Everybody liked Borge. He was the best salesman that Boeing ever had.”
In 1996, then-Boeing president Phil Condit had dinner with Jack Welsh, chairman of General Electric at the time, who wanted a corporate jet with more range than the 737-600 he was using.
Condit took the question to Boeskov, who suggested attaching the larger wing of the 737-800 to a 737-700 fuselage. Welsh liked the idea so much that he proposed a partnership, and the result was the Boeing Business Jet.
Boeskov asked to be in charge “as my retirement project” and was granted his wish. The first of the new planes was sold in 1997, 79 more have been delivered since then and eight are on order.
In an interview when he retired in April 2002, Boeskov said, “Going to work for Boeing was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
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