Says It May Be A Sign Of Better Days To Come

A Boeing official says the number of order deferrals has slowed, which could be an indication that the industry's slide may be coming to an end.

Boeing President and Chief Financial Officer James Bell told industry analysts that only a few new requests for deferrals have come in since the third quarter ended October 1st. Prior to that, customers had asked to defer 215 aircraft deliveries this year. He also said he expects that Boeing will meet the low end of its delivery projections for 2009.

The Associated Press reports that Bell said 2010 will be "another challenging year" for the plane maker, but that the United Airlines order of 25 new B787's along 25 Airbus A350's was an encouraging sign, even if they would have preferred to build all 50 aircraft for United.  "I guess it's better to get some than none," he said. "Obviously we would have preferred to get all of them."

Bell said the testing on the B787 modifications had gone well, and that the company still expects the airplane to fly sometime before the end of the year. "We didn't have to stop it. The wing didn't break. We were able to complete the test. The engineers that were watching and conducting it felt good about the test itself. Now, the proof is in the pudding, so that's why we have to go through and analyze the data, and that's what will tell us if we did good on the test or not. But physically, the test went well," he said

On the defense side of the house, Bell said Boeing may look outside the U.S. for defense contracts, as the federal government may shift some money away from that area.

FMI: www.boeing.com