Boeing CEO now enters period of extreme denial. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2003/01/24/f= inancial0836EST0023.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, January 24, 2003 (AP) Boeing CEO plans no change in strategy despite loss of No. 1 jet maker titl= e to Airbus PAUL GEITNER, AP Business Writer (01-24) 05:36 PST DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) -- Boeing chairman Phil Condit says his company was on the right track despite losing its long-held posiiton as the world's top commercial jet maker to rival Airbus. "There are a lot of ways of measuring No. 1," he said in an interview Thursday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum. "I guess you can count airplanes, but that's only one way." European plane maker Airbus confirmed last week it had overtaken Boeing = in both orders and deliveries of passenger jets for the first time ever. But Condit noted that Boeing, which derives almost half its revenue these days from other sectors, such as space and defense, remains the world's largest aerospace company overall. "Market share is not a parameter we look at," he insisted. "I want to be good at every business we're in." Boeing has been especially hard hit by the massive shakeout in the U.S. airline industry, which forced it to reschedule deliveries on more than 500 jets, now sitting in the Mojave desert. After cutting back production "pretty massively" and laying off 30,000 workers last year, Condit said: "We think we're doing exactly what we ought to be doing." He declined to criticize Airbus, despite reports of private grumblings from Boeing execs of Airbus price-slashing to win orders -- like the single largest order of 2002, 120 planes for low-cost British carrier easyJet. Brushing off charges that Boeing had lost its way with a couple of high-profile missteps -- a stretched version of its trademark 747 and a proposed Sonic Cruiser, which would travel at near the speed of sound -- Condit said Boeing now is focusing on producing a more fuel-efficient, 200-seater to compete with Airbus' popular midsize models. Airbus has won market share in recent years with its economical A320 family and A330-200, but Condit said Boeing wasn't playing catchup. "The readiness of the marketplace, the new technology available -- some = of it wasn't even around two years ago," he said. "I don't think we're late." =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 AP