EVERETT – For executives of a Japanese airline, it wasn’t just another delivery of a Boeing Co. freighter.
The delivery kicked off the Nippon Cargo Airlines’ Phoenix Project, a medium- to long-term plan to further develop its air cargo business, said Takuro Uchiyama, the airline’s president and chief executive.
He and more than a dozen other Nippon Cargo representatives traveled from Japan to Everett to celebrate the delivery of a new 747-400 Freighter on Tuesday.
For Boeing, the event provided opportunity to spend time with a key customer of its new advanced freighter.
Last November, Nippon Cargo and Luxembourg’s Cargolux Airlines teamed up as launch customers for Boeing’s new generation of the 747, the 747-8 Freighter. Nippon Cargo anticipates deliveries of the new cargo plane in the fourth quarter of 2007.
Executives signed off on the new 747-400 Freighter at a ceremony at Boeing’s Everett facility. In honor of the airline’s new strategy, the plane was named NCA Phoenix.
The freighter sale is just a small part of why Boeing values its relationship with Nippon Cargo.
“The Boeing Co. feels very lucky to have this relationship with NCA,” said Ross Bogue, vice president of the 747, 767 and 777 programs at the Everett site.
No longer under the influence of former shareholder All Nippon Airways, Nippon Cargo formulated the Phoenix Project in November 2005. The three-phase plan anticipates the airline owning a fleet of 22 to 24 aircraft by 2015, with Boeing serving as primary supplier.
By 2009, Nippon Cargo plans to incorporate 10 of Boeing’s 747-400 Freighters into its fleet, Uchiyama said. The Tuesday delivery, like the Phoenix Project, represents airline’s quest for greater global expansion, he said.
Reporter Michelle Dunlop: 425-339-3454 or mdunlop@heraldnet.com.
Dan Bates / The Herald
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