=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/2009/04/02/financial/= f095417D14.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, April 2, 2009 (AP) Boeing commercial plane orders plunge in March By DANIEL LOVERING, AP Manufacturing Writer (04-02) 13:27 PDT Pittsburgh (AP) -- Boeing Co. reported sharply lower monthly orders for jetliners on Thursday, as the ailing economy forced airlines to reduce flights and cancel orders. The Chicago-based aerospace giant received orders for just six passenger and freight jets in March, down from 99 during the same month last year, according to figures posted on Boeing's Web site and a company spokesman. Boeing has been hit by dramatically lower orders for commercial planes this year as the global economic slowdown intensifies and air travel wanes. Airlines have cut flights and some carriers have delayed orders and deliveries of new jets. And the credit crisis has made it more difficult for potential buyers to get loans for new planes. In the first three months of the year, Boeing received orders for 28 planes. But customers canceled or changed 32 orders during that period, resulting in a loss of four orders. The canceled orders were for the long-delayed 787, a next-generation aircraft built with lightweight composite parts and designed for fuel efficiency. Airlines are reporting weak traffic so far this year, and they don't have much appetite for new jet orders. Instead, they're grounding planes, including some relatively newer models, as they cut capacity. Richard Aboulafia, an aircraft manufacturing analyst at Teal Group in Fairfax, Va., noted Boeing has a big backlog of work but said airlines could back out of those orders. "I suspect we'll get through 2009 and in 2010 production rates will come down," Aboulafia said. Boeing's orders plunged in 2008 following three years of exceptionally strong bookings, and orders for the first two months of 2009 fell 88 percent year-over-year. In January, Boeing announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs after reporting a surprise fourth-quarter loss. The International Air Transport Association, a Geneva-based airline industry group, has said world airlines are expected to lose $4.7 billion this year due to the economic crisis. Boeing also said it delivered 121 commercial aircraft in the first three months of 2009, up 5 percent from the first quarter of last year. Fifty of those deliveries occurred in March. The company expects to fulfill deliveries scheduled this year, and if necessary would provide about $1 billion in financing to customers. Shares of Boeing rose $1.76, or nearly 5 percent, to $37.20 in late afternoon trade Thursday. ___ AP Airlines Writer David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report. --= -------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2009 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".