Boeing Dreamliner Takes Another Punch

Boeing Dreamliner Takes Another Punch
by 24/7 Wall St. May 7th 2013 12:05PM
Updated May 8th 2013 7:00AM


In addition to the compensation claims against Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) for the three months that its 787 Dreamliner spent grounded due to a battery problem, the aircraft maker is also losing orders to chief rival Airbus. The CEO of Qatar Airways said today that his company may order as many as 15 of the Airbus A330 wide-body jets, at a total list price of more than $3.5 billion.

The A350 is more directly a competitor for Boeing's 777, and the new A350-1000 is poaching sales from Boeing. Last week's announcement of a new version of Boeing's 777 - called mysteriously enough the 777X - is aimed directly at the A350-1000. Both British Airways and Air Lease Corp. (NYSE: AL) have ordered several of the new A350s as replacements for the 777.

Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways' CEO, also said that the airline has no plans to cancel further orders of the 787 and, in fact, may double its order from 30 to 60 of the Boeing jetliners. The airlines also may order more A380s, the Airbus answer to Boeing's venerable 747.

Airbus has taken orders for 262 of the A380s, which carries a list price of $389.9 million each, compared with orders of 105 to 110 for Boeing's latest 747-8. Last month Boeing said it would cut production of the 747 from 2 a month to 1.75 a month.