Wed, May 14, 2003
Boeing Drops Price, Solves 'Combi' Problem
A Reuters story says that, for reasons unknown (unexpected
competition from Airbus? unbridled patriotism?), unnamed DoD
officials, "said Boeing officials had agreed to trim the price of
each 767-200ER aircraft to around $136 million, bringing the
overall price of the lease deal down to around $14 billion from $17
billion. The revised deal calls for the Air Force to purchase the
tankers at the end of the six-year lease term for an additional
$3.5 billion, down from $4 billion in the original deal."
The
military, hoping to assuage cashflow problems, has turned to
aircraft leasing -- 11 new 767-based tankers will soon join the
fleet of 545 (707-based) KC-135s -- as one useful strategy. The
effect of long-term debt (on a purchase deal) would be moved to a
new line on the balance sheet, and the cash outlay, year-to-year,
could also be reduced.
Government deals, immune from IRS prying and interference, can
use more-creative ways to save money than private-sector
businesses; and their motivations and constraints are also
considerably different. A lease, for government, could be the wave
of the future.
There's another twist to the newest 767 tanker deal, too: unlike
recent iterations, the machines would be configurable to convert
from tanker to transport duty and back, rather than the so-called
"combi" machines, which would carry some cargo and/or troops, but
less fuel. Apparently, someone at DoD figured that the likelihood
of a mission that would require troops on an aerial refueling route
was small enough that a more-specialized aircraft would answer the
need.
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