Boeing is expecting to convert all committed orders for its single-aisle 737MAX aircraft into firm orders this year.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and chief executive officer, Jim Albaugh, told Reuters that this year the company would focus on delivering orderbooks whilst also developing a strategy for its long-haul twin-aisle aircraft.
Albaugh said: "We have over 1,100 commitments and our goal this year is to turn all of those into firm orders."
He continued: "We hope we are going to have something approaching a couple thousand of airplanes before we launched the first one."
Boeing anticipates the huge global backlog orders could be deferred or even cancelled if there is a further slump in the economy.
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By GlobalDataBoeing will decide whether to proceed with the programme to produce a stretch version of 787 Dreamliner by the end of this year, which will carry 320 passengers, 40 passengers more than its current 787-9 version.
The company had previously said it has commitments from 15 customers for 737 MAX aircraft, and its Next-Generation 737 family has orders for more than 6,300 airplanes.
737 MAX will be powered by a new CFM International LEAP-1B engine, which will reduce fuel burn and CO2 emissions by an additional 10% – 12%.
Boeing’s Dreamliner project has been facing delamination problems on its rear fuselage, which the company does not consider to be a major problem or cause short-term safety issues.
The improperly joined pieces of shims that are used to fill in space between parts and industry publication had caused parts of the aircraft’s carbon fibre structure to delaminate.
Albaugh said: "We are inspecting all those airplanes right now it is very fixable and we are in the process of fixing the airplanes. There is no safety or flight issue on the airplanes that we have delivered."
Whilst Albaugh confirmed the delamination problems may affect the delivery of the aircraft, which are three years behind schedule, he said it would not affect the delivery target for 2012.
Image: Boeing is planning to fulfil all the commitments on its single-aisle 737MAX aircraft this year. Photo: Boeing
