=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/n/a/2005/05/30/financial/= f124710D38.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday, May 30, 2005 (AP) Boeing Is a Favorite in Japan By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer (05-30) 12:47 PDT TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- At a time when its global competition against European rival Airbus is intensifying, at least one country can't seem to get enough of Boeing — Japan. The U.S. aircraft maker has a half-century partnership here not only with the airlines but also government officials and major manufacturers. And the ties have grown deeper with Boeing Co.'s latest offering — the 787 Dreamliner, a smaller, fuel-efficient passenger jet. It was fitting that Boeing and Japan Airlines co-sponsored a gala dinner Monday, the opening day of an annual summit here for the air transport industry. A new era of cost-efficient travel centered around the two new jet offerings — the 787 and Airbus' A380 — is topping the agenda for the World Air Transport Summit, and has drawn about 600 officials from airlines, airports, manufacturers and civil aviation groups in Tokyo. At the two-day meeting organized by the International Air Transport Organization, which represents 265 airlines, officials are protesting meddling from protective governments and taxes on airfares that burden airlines as the industry struggles with ballooning oil prices and security costs. "We will be flying now the Airbus 380 and the 787, but the rules are exactly the same," said IATA Chief Executive Giovanni Bisignani. "We need change from government. We need vision, and we have to be able to play and compete in a fair world." Although Airbus SAS has outsold Boeing in recent years in the rest of the world, controlling more than half of the commercial aircraft market, Airbus is such a stranger in Japan that Chief Commercial Officer John Leahy has joked that its market share here is zero, and publicly criticized Chicago-based Boeing's domination here as a price-raising "monopoly." Earlier this year, Airbus appointed former Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Glen Fukushima, who boasts personal ties in Japan, as president of its Japanese unit in an effort to fight Boeing. There have been no Japan orders for Airbus' 840-seat "superjumbo" A380, expected to enter commercial service next year. The 787 Dreamliner, which seats 200 to 300 passengers, is set to be delivered in 2008. Japan's ANA, or All Nippon Airways, was the first to place orders for the 787 last year. ANA and Japan Airlines have ordered a combined 80. Worldwide, 21 airlines have announced orders and commitments for 261 Dreamliners. Boeing says it's more than human networking that's making the 787 such a hit with the Japanese. "We know very, very thoroughly from years and years of cooperation and partnership what their requirements are, and we strive to fulfill their requirements in every aspect of our business," Boeing Vice President R. Wade Cornelius said in a recent interview. Boeing also shrugs off the A380 strategy, saying it's relieved Airbus is making a giant jet because Boeing won't have to make them. Mike Bair, who oversees the 787 team, says demand for the 787 is expected to be in the thousands while demand for A380 will likely stay in the hundreds. Airbus, on the other hand, is hoping even Boeing-loyal Japan will jump on the bandwagon and start ordering A380, feeling obligation-free because there's no comparable Boeing offering, says Airbus manager Takahiro Nosaka. But a long-standing partnership with big names in the Japanese corporate world commands great respect — and political clout — in a nation where manufacturing giants were the pillars of modernization and loyalty and tradition tend to count. There's no doubt Japanese manufacturers have a big stake in the success = of the 787. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. is designing and building the plane's wing — the first time a company other than Boeing will do so. Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. will handle design and assembly of the center wing stub, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. will provide part of the fuselage, the body of the plane. The companies built about 21 percent of the Boeing 777 airframe and 15 percent of the 767, but will be responsible for 35 percent of the 787. Boeing is even billing the 787 as "Made With Japan." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2005 AP