Boeing may form a new company to develop the new Dreamliner (formerly
7E7) long-range airliner and invite its industrial partners to
buy equity shares in it, Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Alan
Mulally disclosed here on Sunday.
"I wouldn't rule it out," Mulally said after mentioning
that partners could buy a stake in the program. "We're looking
at every kind of partnership, from equity investments to more
conventional arrangements."
Asked whether potential suppliers will be expected to contribute
to the total development bills for the Dreamliner, as well and
funding their own research and development, Mulally said simply,
"Yes." With the Dreamliner, Boeing aims to reduce costs
and consolidate its supplier base, so that suppliers can either
invest on a large scale or risk exclusion. "The entire industry
is dependent on improving productivity year by year," he
said, "and this downturn has shown that the cost structure
that we have today is not sustainable."
Mulally expects that Boeing's long-term partners in Japan will
at least match their 20% share of the 767 and 777 on the new airplane.
"I'm confident that they'll continue to be a terrific partner,
with tremendous experience on composites."
Boeing expects to build 280 airplanes in 2003-for the first time,
fewer units than Airbus. "I'm so proud that we worked with
our customers to reduce our production rates," says Mulally.
"If we hadn't done that, we'd have a lot of customers today
in an even tougher position than they are."
Denying reports that the Boeing 747 is on the way out, Mulally
said that the 910,000-pound variant's economics are "the
best in the world-its proposed competitor costs 28% more per mile
to fly, and the 747 is the only airplane in the 400- to 450-passenger
range. "Airlines have to balance risk in their portfolios,"
he says, suggesting that carriers might back away from investing
too much in large aircraft. "People talking about its demise
are a little premature.
