Boeing Co. endures big losses
Hit hard by the crisis in commercial aviation that made a dent in its third-quarter gains, the world’s number one aircraft maker has not lost everything as its defense sector is still keeping its nose to the grindstone.
Boeing Co. has just announced a 31 percent slide in gross benefits for the third quarter of the year, a figure that accounts for a $256 million loss. The number of negotiated deals also skidded 3.5 percent for a $12.2 billion trounce.
And experts are pinning the blame for this decline on the megabuck group’s commercial aviation division whose sales have dropped dramatically. However, in the world scenario the company is scrambling to overcome the crisis triggered over two years ago by the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
”Regardless of some encouraging signs, the depression is still severe and numerous air companies are still suffering losses that undermine demand for all kinds of aircraft,” the company’s front office stated in a press release.
The future remains as bleak as ever despite the fact that several carriers have put on better revenue numbers in the latest quarter. During a conference of experts, Boeing president Phil Condit warned “a full-blown recovery of the aviation sector won’t come to pass until after 2005.”
In the third quarter of 2003, the delivery of commercial plane orders slid 11 percent compared to the same quarter of 2002, tallying 65 aircraft. The division’s business operations also dipped 17 percent to a staggering $5 billion.
As far as its new project is concerned –the 7E7 airliner- Boeing Co. made sure everything is going as planned.
The group’s division received 51 orders in the third quarter of the ongoing year for $65.1 billion, $900 million less than in 2002.
Boeing hasn’t changed its delivery estimates for the year 2004 (somewhere between 275 and 290 planes), nor has it adjusted its delivery plan for this year that will reach 280 aircraft in all. Airbus, its European competitor, is planning to deliver 300 airliners.
On the flop side of the coin, however, Boeing’s military division jacked up sales and increased the volume of business operations during the third quarter thanks to President George W. Bush’s defense programs.
