=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/2008/07/29/financial/= f230447D34.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday, July 30, 2008 (AP) Boeing executive: Oil prices demand jet efficiency By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer (07-30) 00:42 PDT TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Soaring oil prices are likely to crimp the need for regional jets and force bigger aircraft to grow more fuel-efficient, a senior Boeing executive said Wednesday. Randy Tinseth, Boeing Co. marketing vice president, said oil prices are likely to remain high and won't stabilize for some time. As a result, the market for regional jets seating 50 passengers is disappearing and being replaced by demand for aircraft seating more people, he said at Boeing's Tokyo office. Tinseth said Boeing's planned 747-8, set for first delivery in late 2009, which seats 467, is among the more attractive offerings for larger jets because of its fuel-efficiency against comparable aircraft. Rival Airbus' offering in big jets is the A380-800, which seats 555 people. It has been in service since late last year. Tinseth said fuel efficiency will be key. "We are very fortunate that across the board we are the world's most efficient aircraft," he told reporters. "So we're well positioned." Oil prices have surged this year, and travelers are being asked to pay f= or the costs through fuel surcharges. That has intensified competition among airlines and heightened their need for cost reductions. Light, sweet crude for September delivery was trading around $122.22 a barrel Wednesday in Asia, down from a record above $147 earlier in the month but still up about 60 percent from a year ago. Tinseth said oil prices may settle after many years but will continue to be relatively high at about $70 or $80 a barrel. The need for giant jets like the 747-8 and A380 is expected to be relatively small at about 3 percent of the industry's 29,400 new airplanes being delivered in the next 20 years, he said. Much of that need, or nearly half of the "big airplane market," will come from Asia, where the need to fly to North America and Europe from congested cities like Tokyo will continue to be great, he said. Boeing said it has received a better-than-expected 105 orders for the passenger and cargo models of the 747-8, with four additional commitments. Boeing's smaller 787, which has been touted as more fuel efficient, has been hampered by lengthy production delays due to supply chain glitches. The jet is more than a year behind the original schedule. Boeing Japan President Nicole Piasecki said the problems with the 787 we= re being worked out, and that the first flight is scheduled for sometime in the fourth quarter of this year, and the first delivery in the third quarter of next year. "We're back on track now," she said at the Foreign Correspondents' Club = of Japan. She said glitches behind the delays came because the plane was embarking on a lot of new ground, including developing new material to replace the usual aluminum for jets. The 787 has the highest ratio of Japanese suppliers' participation in designing and manufacturing than any Boeing jet. Piasecki said the decision to have Japanese involvement in important parts, including the wing and fuselage, was not to blame for the delays. "Boeing should be held accountable to that, and nobody else," she said. = ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2008 AP <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you wish to unsubscribe from the AIRLINE List, please send an E-mail to: "listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx". Within the body of the text, only write the following:"SIGNOFF AIRLINE".