If you’ve got 32 minutes to spare, I highly recommend listening to the complete interview with BCA President Scott Carson by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s aerospace reporter, James Wallace. His write up is primarily about the 787, but the interview covers a broad range of topics including the 737RS, 777X and the 747-8I.
The interview should really be taken as an additional supplement to last week’s call. The ebullient optimism of last week is more tempered with a little more insight and color about key suppliers, which demonstrates the confidence but also the realities of the challenges ahead for 2008 and 2009.
Lastly, listen for Carson’s comments on the 777 replacement program. He talks about the potential offering looking at a seat range that starts above the 787-10 and spans to an aircraft larger than the 777-300ER.
This kind of planning makes it look as though the 747-8I wouldn’t have nearly as long a life as they are forecasting. Any new aircraft with more seats than the -300ER would be targeted as a 747 replacement as well. Boeing’s market forecast anticipates fewer than 1000 747 and larger aircraft and greater than 6,200 twin aisle aircraft sold between now and 2026. That’s a staggering difference. Their product planning here would reflect this trend.
With this line of thinking, the 787-10 ends up taking the 777-200ER’s spot at the bottom of the 777 family and everything moves up a notch on the 777 replacement program. Ultimately you go from a four aircraft product line to a three aircraft product line by 2020. Boeing’s core products would be the 737RS, 787 and 777RS on the passenger side.
This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.
This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.