Boeing Projects 911

     Boeing has been on a high.
     Business has been good and the USA plane builder has raked in orders all year long.
     But a new projection of expected airplane sales across India makes us wonder just a bit.
     A Boeing Current Market Outlook (CMO) report released on July 30 and put out on Reuters and Associated Press and nearly everywhere else said that India would require 911aircraft by 2027.
     But hold everything here.
     Boeing projecting sale of 911 aircraft for India in the future, not 910 or 912 or even 907 (the company loves the number seven) may be the spot on truth, but it also is an unfortunate, albeit unintentional choice of words.
     Talk about dumb.
     All the good intentions and power, public relations and just plain common sense alive at Boeing should mean that this mega company gets things like this right.
     911 is forever sacrosanct in human history, and etched in world memory as a horrible day in Manhattan that changed the world.
     In any case the Boeing figure of 911airplanes costing over $86 billion upped the earlier estimate of 856 aircraft valued at more than $72 billion.
     Incidentally, this market forecast has quadrupled in the past three years from a projection in 2004 for $20 billion worth of aircraft orders for the period 2004-2024.
     The 911 number will consist of 55 regional jets, 674 single aisle aircraft, 173-twin aisle and nine Boeing 747 or bigger airplanes.
     "The 2007 CMO projects that commercial airplanes in the 90-400 seat categories will account for most of the growth in air travel over the next 20 years, and the airlines will continue to accommodate that growth by adding frequencies and point-to-point non stop flights," Boeing's Senior V-P, Sales, Commercial Airplanes Dr. Dinesh Keskar said.
     As for freighters, Dr. Keskar confessed that the domestic air cargo market in India was still in its infancy. While he could not give any figures, he did mention that the market was looking up, what with Air India and Indian in conversion programs.
     India at present has 257 aircraft in service with another 387 aircraft on order.
     By the year 2026, India will have over 1,000 aircraft servicing the international and domestic market.
     Dr. Keskar also mentioned that the groundbreaking ceremony of the Boeing MRO to be established in partnership with Air India at Nagpur would take place by the end of the year.
     Looking a bit wider, Boeing said 28,600 new airplanes would be delivered over the next 20 years.
     The new aircraft will make up 80 percent of the 36,400 airplanes in service.
     Boeing says air cargo is set for an average growth rate of 6.1 percent per year, comprising 6.2 percent per year for air freight and 2.5 percent per year for airmail tripling world air cargo traffic (RTKs) over the 20-year period.
     The average size of freighter airplanes will get bigger, and the dedicated cargo fleet will double from 1,980 to 3,980 airplanes, Boeing said.
     The 2,480 passenger airplanes that will be converted to freighters will account for some of the increase in freighter capacity.
In addition, 870 new dedicated freighter airplanes will be delivered.
Geoffrey