The Boeing Co. will announce its 2005 year-end profits this morning, and after a year of record sales, they should be good.
But while the look in the review mirror should be pleasant to shareholders, what’s the outlook for the year ahead? The smart money says Boeing won’t match that sales performance in 2006, but there are still some significant orders out there to be won.
There’s been some news out of Russia since the first of the year suggesting that Boeing and Airbus are grappling for an order from Aeroflot, which is in the market for about two dozen long-range, midsized jets – either 787s or A350s.
Right after Christmas, Russian news agencies reported that Aeroflot had decided to buy 22 787s, but would wait until March to place the order.
A few weeks later, however, came news from France that Aeroflot had changed its mind and was ordering A350s. French industry magazine Air et Cosmos reported that Aeroflot officials had “suddenly remembered” all the A350 engineering contracts Airbus had sent to Russia, and were now poised to honor that by buying the Airbus planes.
According to the report, that Aeroflot deal was supposed to be the one that pushed Airbus over its goal of 200 orders for the A350 in 2005.
Well, Aeroflot didn’t order A350s (and Airbus didn’t hit its target at 200, either). So the Aeroflot deal, it would seem, is still in play.
Last week, Russian newspapers reported that Boeing had signed industrial agreements with Russian companies worth a total of $3 billion. The Moscow News reported that Boeing is buying titanium from Russia, while the Moscow Times said Boeing also plans to hire more Russian engineers.
And Aeroflot’s chief executive followed that news days later by announcing that his airline had indeed decided between the A350 and 787, but was in intensive talks over pricing so it wouldn’t announce its decision until it signs the papers in March.
What does that mean? It might be too early to say, but if Aeroflot does order 22 787s in March, don’t be shocked.
Meanwhile, in the southern Pacific, there are rumors that Qantas may be back to buy more Boeing jets.
The Australian airline’s order for 65 787s in December was a bit of a surprise. Prior to the deal’s announcement, most observers had expected that Qantas was also going to order super long-haul jets – most likely Boeing 777-200LRs Worldliners. At the time it seemed that the 777 order was a lock for Boeing, while the 787 order was less clear-cut.
But Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said the 777s didn’t quite have the legs to fly the airline’s Sydney to-London route nonstop with enough passengers to be profitable. So, the 777 order didn’t happen.
Last week, however, Air Transport World reported that Qantas was back talking to Boeing about the Worldliner.
“Qantas CFO Peter Gregg (said) that the 777-200LR is ‘definitely under serious evaluation,’ although he was coy on the finer details of the operational options under examination,” the trade magazine reported on its Web site. “Analysts expect it to order between 10 and 15 777-200LRs.”
Reporter Bryan Corliss: 425-339-3454 or corliss@heraldnet.com.
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