Boeing cautious on eve of decision
With the Qantas board debating one of the biggest aircraft deals in recent history, industry heavyweight Boeing has suggested that 2005 may be the peak of the market and coming years could see a tightening in aircraft sales.
Boeing, along with European rival Airbus, is on track for its best-ever year, with 806 firm commercial plane orders already in the book for 2005, helped by a recovery in air travel and strong demand from Middle Eastern and Asian carriers.
“The only thing you can do is look historically”, said Randy Baseler, Boeing’s vice president of marketing for commercial airplanes. “The next year tends not to be as high,” said Baseler. “Every cycle is different. The tendency is that orders will be somewhat lower than this year.”
By the end of October, Airbus had nearly 500 orders this year, while Boeing said it has received 800 orders as of the end of November.
Baseler said he expects price competition with Airbus to continue over the next few years, forcing Boeing to keep manufacturing costs as low as possible.
No doubt both manufacturers will be sitting anxiously by the phone over the next couple of days.
Graham Muldoon
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