Boeing fell behind schedule for jetliner deliveries in April, and it could have trouble hitting the target for deliveries in 2014, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Meanwhile, workers at Boeing’s North Charleston plant in South Carolina have hit production goals set by management in February to eliminate production delays on the 787 line, reports Warren Wise at the Charleston Post and Courier.
If factory floor workers there can maintain the production rate through Monday, they’ll collect bonuses worth up to 8 percent of their annual base pay, according to an internal Boeing document cited by Wise.
Boeing managers offered the bonuses after seeing a spike in the amount of unfinished work on 787 fuselage sections and assembled aircraft coming out of North Charleston. The increase accompanied Boeing raising 787 production rate to 10 airplanes a month.
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Speaking of the 787, Stephen Trimble at Flight Global reports that International Lease Finance Corp. is the largest order customer for the 787-9 model. ILFC, which leases airplanes out to airlines, has orders for 49 of the 787-9, which is scheduled for first delivery around mid-2014, and 25 orders for the 787-8.
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Will the 787 family have to compete with a re-engined Airbus A330Neo? Airbus isn’t sure.
The airplane-maker consortium’s head of marketing, Alan Pardoe, said the idea is still being considered, reports Airline Fleet Management.
Pardoe was responding to a question at the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading’s Asia conference earlier this month.
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One of the Russians added to the U.S. sanctions list in April is CEO of a Boeing supplier company.
Sergey Chemezov is CEO of Rostec, one of the world’s biggest titanium suppliers. Boeing gets a lot of its titanium from Rostec, and in November the two companies agreed to partner on a titanium manufacturing plant in Russia’s Ural Mountains. The plant’s products will be used in all of Boeing’s commercial airplanes.
Chemezov also chairs or serves on the board of directors for Aeroflot, United Aircraft Corporation (which is making the Sukhoi Superjet 100) and VSMPO-AVISMA, another major titanium supplier for Boeing.
The U.S. sanctions are in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine and seizure of Crimea. So far, they have mostly targeted individuals connected to Russia’s invasion of Crimea and high-level allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Chemezov and Putin have allegedly been friends since they met in the 1980s in East Germany, where Putin was serving in the KGB. Chemezov was also with the KGB at the time, according to The Economist.
In March, I reported how broader economic sanctions could pinch Everett more than most cities.
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And speaking of Russia, Everett-based Aviation Technical Services announced Wednesday that it has won a maintenance and overhaul contract for eight Boeing 767-200 jetliners operated by UTair Aviation, a Russian airline. The work will be done at ATS’s new facility in Kansas City, Mo.
Dan Catchpole: 425-339-3454; dcatchpole@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @dcatchpole.
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