The planemaker hopes high fuel costs will drive sales of its new fuel-efficient jets. But airlines may not be able to afford themU.S. carriers are mothballing planes as the airlines crumple under the weight of soaring fuel prices. But Boeing (BA) is counting on the energy crisis to boost demand for its new generation of fuel-efficient jets, CEO James McNerney told analysts on May 21.
McNerney's comments to the company's annual investor conference came hours after Fort Worth-based American Airlines announced it would cut its domestic routes by 11% to 12% and retire about 75 aircraft, including some of its older, gas-guzzling MD-80s, which were grounded last month (BusinessWeek.com, 4/10/08) because of Federal Aviation Administration safety inspections. However, Boeing projects that 10,400 replacement planes will be needed, as the world's airline fleets double, to 36,400 planes, by 2026.
The fleets of the U.S. carriers are particularly old, says Scott Carson, chief executive of Boeing's Commercial Airplanes Div. He told analysts that domestic carriers by 2015 will have 919 planes that are 25 years or older, compared with only 146 planes of that vintage this year.
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