This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx /-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ IN AMERICA - NOMINATED FOR 6 INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS IN AMERICA has audiences across the country moved by its emotional power. This Holiday season, share the experience of this extraordinary film with everyone you are thankful to have in your life. Ebert & Roeper give IN AMERICA "Two Thumbs Way Up!" Watch the trailer at: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/inamerica \----------------------------------------------------------/ A Brand New Aircraft in Search of Buyers December 16, 2003 By MICHELINE MAYNARD The Boeing Company, which is expected to announce plans today to market its 7E7 jetliner, faces the immediate and challenging task of finding buyers for the plane, a medium-range aircraft that is its first new plane in more than a decade. Boeing declined to say yesterday whether its board, which met Sunday and yesterday in Chicago, had given final approval to take orders for the plane. A second decision would be required before the 7E7 could go into production, but that would not be made before Boeing accumulated orders for the jet, nicknamed the Dreamliner. Boeing said any announcement would come today in Seattle, where it was based until a few years ago. The company was widely expected to announce its plans to employees at Payne Field, the center of its operations there, and then hold a news conference. The meeting was the first for Boeing's new chief executive, Harry C. Stonecipher. He came out of retirement to succeed Philip M. Condit, who resigned on Dec. 1 in the wake of a scandal involving a fuel-tanker contract with the Pentagon. Officials in Everett, Wash., Boeing's main manufacturing site, are eagerly awaiting word from Chicago headquarters on the proposed jet, which is designed to be 20 percent more efficient than the Boeing 757 it would replace. "We are on standby," said Kate Reardon, a spokeswoman for the Everett mayor's office. Local officials have been lobbying for months to win the final assembly work for the plane, which has a sharply curved roof and a sloping nose. Instead of being produced under one roof, the 7E7 would be built in a modular assembly process. Crucial pieces, like the wings, fuselage and tail, are being parceled out in sections to various plants in the United States, Canada and Australia. Other work has been awarded to companies in Japan and Italy. All those sections would ultimately come together in an assembly project resulting in 800 to 1,200 jobs, a fraction of the 40,000 jobs Boeing has eliminated in the United States this year in the wake of slumping industry traffic and deep losses since the terrorist attacks of September 2001. None of Boeing's American customers have yet expressed interest in the jet, which will seat 300 or more passengers in a one-class configuration with two aisles, compared with 280 passengers in the single cabin of a 757, which has one aisle. And just two international carriers, Japan Air Lines and Emirates, have indicated that they would like to discuss the plane with Boeing, once it decides to go forward with production. Boeing has built more than 1,000 757 jets, but the last will be built in 2004. It decided to discontinue the 757 in October, only hours after Continental Airlines scrapped plans to buy 11 of the jets, ordering smaller 737's instead. Nonetheless, Boeing executives were expected to go ahead with the 7E7 project, simply because they would otherwise see Airbus Industrie, their global rival, move out of sight in a vapor trail ahead of them. That may already be happening. The first 7E7 jet would go into service in 2008, while the Airbus A330, the 7E7's competition, is already in the fleets of Northwest Airlines, China Airlines and Austrian Airlines, among others. Boeing has not introduced a jet since the 777 in 1990. Analysts say Boeing may have lost valuable time in the 90's working on two other, flashier jets that it ultimately canceled: the Sonic Cruiser, a supersonic plane, and the 747X, which would have been the successor to the 747 and a competitor to the giant A380 that Airbus is marketing. On Monday, Airbus said Malaysia Airlines ordered six A380 jets, bringing total orders to 129 planes from 11 airlines. The A380, which would seat 555 passengers, will be delivered to customers in 2007. Boeing should know by spring whether it has enough 7E7 orders to begin production, said David Fitzpatrick, a partner with Deloitte & Touche USA in Seattle. At minimum, it needs about 100 orders, and ideally 200 to 250, to move ahead, he said. He said he did not think that airlines' dearth of interest now necessarily spelled trouble. "You can bet that there are people waiting to commit to this," Mr. Fitzpatrick said. "In the first few months, they should accumulate a good book of orders." Airlines that make deals first often have an opportunity to get planes at a lower price than Boeing will try to charge later, when the plane's viability has been proved, analysts said. Boeing has not disclosed what a 7E7 would cost, or what kind of profit margins it can expect on the jet. Analysts estimate that it is spending a minimum of $7 billion on the project, and that it will probably earn an operating profit of 4 percent to 5 percent, half what Boeing earned in its most profitable years. Aircraft manufacturers look at projects like the 7E7 as long-term investments, said Roman Szuper, a credit analyst with Standard & Poor's. Like the 757, which went into service in 1982, Boeing would be expected to build the 7E7 for the next 20 years, he said. "If the decision is correct,'' Mr. Szuper said, "they can pick up market share lost to Airbus." That company, a European consortium, is expected to pass Boeing for the first time in 2004 to become the world's biggest commercial aircraft maker. But he added, "If the decision is wrong, it could be very costly," not just for Boeing but for airlines that buy the plane. While the 7E7's sleek appearance and interior comfort will undoubtedly appeal to passengers, he said, airlines will place a higher priority on an attractive bottom line. "The shape and features are a good thing," Mr. Szuper said. "But they have to have good economics and efficiencies." http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/16/business/16boeing.html?ex=1072585030&ei=1&en=c782bab604b47336 --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here: http://www.nytimes.com/ads/nytcirc/index.html HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@xxxxxxxxxxx or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@xxxxxxxxxxxx Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company