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Boeing 797 Vs Airbus A390: Which One Is More Likely?
When will we finally see another fully new, clean-sheet airliner from Boeing and Airbus?
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Когда эволюция существующего дизайна будет как минимум процетов на 15, а желательно 20 хуже по характеристикам нового проекта, тогда появится clean-sheet. BWB выглядит очень привлекательно, оценочная экономичность порядка 30%. С момента объявления такой программы нужно лет-8-10. Но пока все еще использут то что можно выдавить из существующего дизайнаBoeing 797 Vs Airbus A390: Which One Is More Likely?
When will we finally see another fully new, clean-sheet airliner from Boeing and Airbus?
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‘We’ve Got What It Takes To Recover
In Kelly Ortberg's first in-depth interview since being tapped in August 2024 as president and CEO of Boeing, he met with Aviation Week editors Joe Anselmo, Guy Norris and Sean Broderick at the company's 737 final assembly factory in Renton, Washington. During the wide-ranging and often frank discussion, Ortberg shared his plans for turning around the company, reforming its culture and navigating market uncertainties.
June 2 2025PARIS AIR SHOW PREVIEW
In Kelly Ortberg's first in-depth interview since being tapped in August 2024 as president and CEO of Boeing, he met with Aviation Week editors Joe Anselmo, Guy Norris and Sean Broderick at the company's 737 final assembly factory in Renton, Washington. During the wide-ranging and often frank discussion, Ortberg shared his plans for turning around the company, reforming its culture and navigating market uncertainties.
AW&ST: The big story for Boeing this year is your win of the U.S. Air Force’s F-47 fighter contract. Congratulations. It’s the single largest investment we’ve ever made in a defense program. We’ve been investing for years. This was a well-run competition, and I think we did an excellent job in putting an offer forward that was superior to the competition. We invested in prototype aircraft and facilities, and I think that investment has paid off. So, a huge win for us, because we don’t have a position in the current fifth-generation fighter. To have this sixth generation really sets the stage for our St. Louis fighter operations. We still have the F-15 and F/A-18 programs, but they’re reaching end of life, particularly the F/A-18. So this is going to be really important for us for decades to come.
Before Boeing won the F-47, its defense business was widely viewed as floundering. There were even questions about who would want it if you tried to spin it off. It resets the stage for our future in the fighter business. We’ve got the T-7 [trainer] franchise, which is just coming in. We’ve got continuation of the [KC-46] tanker franchise. So this was an important element in several ways. It’s the first sixth-generation program, and we had the technology ready to do that. I think a lot of people were probably surprised at that. What we’ve been doing in the dark cloud in investment for that program really paid off. I’m pleased to say we have what it takes to be providing state-of-the-art, next generation capability. And some of those things from the defense business will help us as we think about our next commercial platforms as well. So we’ve got what it takes to recover this business. I’m not worried that we’ve lost a step and can’t recover. We’ve just got to execute better.
You’ve been big on program execution. What is Boeing doing differently on the F-47? Much more rigorous baseline management, making sure we have our supply chain aligned with the contract. Some of the large fixed-price contracts that we’ve had in the past have been problematic because we didn’t have back-to-back alignment with our supply chain, and that got us into real challenges. So we’ve focused on making sure we’ve got that understood, and we’ve invested heavily to reduce the risk. We’re at a very mature stage for a program of this nature. We’re going to be able to go faster and not incur those risks in the middle of the development program.
What are the two or three biggest risks current tariff policies pose to Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA)? The input tariffs, where we pay a 10% tariff, are predominantly impacting us for wings and fuselages in Japan and Italy. We’re not in a position to pass those [costs] along to our customers. I’m hopeful that, as each of these country-by-country negotiations resolve, those tariffs will go away in the long run. Luckily, 80% of our supply chain comes out of the U.S. In some cases, if you pay a tariff and then [export] the airplane, you actually can draw back on the tariff. A large portion of our backlog is international, so that would be more of a cash timing issue than a margin performance issue.
The other issue, probably more impactful, is if any retaliatory tariffs are applied. We are seeing that right now in China, and that is causing Chinese airlines not to take delivery of [U.S.made] aircraft. We certainly hope this doesn’t escalate to where other countries apply retaliatory tariffs and we get in a situation that we can’t deliver the airplanes we have in the production system today. Now, there is tremendous demand for airplanes overall, so we can [find another buyer] if there is a certain region where we can’t make deliveries. But it’s not easy to shift quickly, because airplanes are painted in an airline livery, the interiors are aligned to that airline, so to go sell that to a different customer takes work. I’m in regular contact with the administration, all the way to POTUS. They are clearly focused on making sure the aerospace and defense business continues to be an export engine. They’re watching very closely, and their intent is to help us, not hurt us. It’s a very dynamic time. Every day is a new day with tariffs.
Boeing is the prime contractor for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) core stage. The Trump administration is proposing to terminate the SLS, and there is much uncertainty about NASA’s future direction. Do you see space as a core part of Boeing's future? Absolutely. I think some of the challenges we’ve had with Starliner [Boeing’s crew vehicle] have overshadowed our space portfolio. We’ve got a tremendous portfolio, particularly in the secure national security space regime. I think the manned space, commercial and NASA business is going to be dependent on where the budget goes and what the country wants to invest in those programs. But that doesn’t implicate our overall commitment to space and national security space. With the work we’re doing with the X-37B [orbital test vehicle], there are great opportunities for us in the future. We’re a world leader in space. A lot of that is classified business, but we’re going to stay committed to the space sector.
Do you think the SLS could survive in a different form or at least be extended further? I have no privileged insight to give you. I’m following the budget and the [Trump] administration priorities as much as everybody. We’re just going to have to react to what that is. Whether that’s a few more launches and then a wind-down or a redirection is yet to be seen.
Boeing’s decision to put NASA’s X-66 Transonic Truss-Braced Wing demonstrator aircraft on ice was a bit of a surprise. Your predecessor, Dave Calhoun, had pointed to the X-66 as a potential pathway to the 737 single-aisle replacement market. What changed? I don’t know if anything really changed as much as the value we thought we were going to get out of the program. We’ve redirected the resources to continue to invest in the areas we think are going to be more impactful to a future aircraft program. So I think it’s making sure we’re not spending valuable resources on a prototype airplane that’s not getting us what we need in terms of technology development. It has been a great program, and we learned a lot from it. And we are going to continue our investments in elements that we think will have value in our future airplanes.
"I'm in regular contact with the administration, all the way to POTUS."
Namely thin-wing technology? Yes. We didn’t want to spend a lot of our resources on what I’ll call mundane maintenance of an aircraft. We’re focusing on the technology areas. That’s the shift you’re seeing.
As you look to Boeing’s next commercial airplane, where do you see the company prioritizing research? The near-term priorities are, from a commercial perspective, getting the current development programs through the certification process. We’re hoping to get the two variants of the 737 MAX wrapped up this year so we can start deliveries of the -7 and the -10, two airplanes that are very, very important to our customers and our backlog. And then the 777-9, which will be the largest dual-engine widebody in the market. We’ve got four [777-9s] in flight test, and we’re making great progress. I think that’s going to be a game changing platform for us.
In terms of what’s next, I view it as different work streams:
One: “When is the market ready?” Two: “When is the technology ready?” And three: “When are we ready and can financially handle that?”
We’re not ready on any of those work streams today, but we need to be when the market is ready for a new aircraft. Remember, we have half a trillion dollars of backlog, and most of that is commercial products. We have huge demand for those products, and I would say there’s more focus on upgrading existing aircraft, putting new engines and capability on them.
There is growing demand for airplanes in the midmarket sector, which Boeing looked at five years ago. Now startups such as JetZero are trying to penetrate that market. Do you think you’ll begin to look at a new product for the 2030s? We’re constantly looking. Looking is one thing; launching is another. We’re in the early innings of our recovery. We’re still in a negative cash situation. We’re going to get that turned around by the second half of the year, but we’ve got to get our company healthy. We’ll continue to do our research to be ready, but I’m not going to put a date on it because all three of those work streams have to have a thumbs-up for us to go. And right now, they all have a thumbs-down. Hopefully our recovery will stay on track, and that will give us more flexibility to do something.
Are you concerned that Airbus is pulling too far ahead in its market advantage? No. We are behind [in certifying] the 737-10 in that segment of the market. We need to get that airplane certified so we can compete. We’re in great shape with our widebody product line. We’ve got to get the 777 in place. But I’m not too concerned that we’ve fallen significantly behind. We’re doing things in our labs that we’re not talking about to be prepared for the next generation.
You’ve called out certification as a focus area for BCA leadership and talked about Boeing needing to be more proactive. Could you expand on that? What I was specifically talking about is working with the FAA in a more proactive way to ensure that we don’t see continuous delays in the certification process, especially when it’s administrative or documentation review or documentation back-and-forth between us and the FAA. I’m very encouraged with the new FAA leadership. I’ve had meetings with Secretary [Sean] Duffy at the Department of Transportation, and he’s come out and talked with our employees. We need to work together to streamline that process. It has gotten way too elongated. We’ve seen progress. We recently got FAA type inspection authorization approvals for the 777-9. But there’s still a lot of work to do, particularly on the 777X, to get that certification complete. That’s going to be a continued focus for us for the rest of the year.
The 777X program was launched at the 2013 Dubai Airshow. You had just become CEO of Rockwell Collins, a key supplier to the program. Could you have ever imagined at that time we would be here in 2025, and it still wouldn’t be in service? No. I’m still shocked. Now, it’s partially driven by circumstances outside of the 777X program. The extra regulations that came out and the whole certification process were driven more by the MAX situation than anything on 777X. It’s amazing that it has not been in service for years. But it isn’t, and the task at hand is to get it over the finish line.
Are you satisfied with where the program is today? Yes. The performance of the four that are flying is fantastic. We’ve got more hours on this airplane than any other we’ve ever put into production service. So we feel really good about having a good entry into service. Customers have hung with us through that long delay because they see value in the airplane. I think it’s going to be a great product for us once we get through the near-term certification challenge.
Where are you on ramping up 737 MAX production? We now have three lines running and flowing, and we have [an FAA-imposed] rate cap of 38 [per month]. It is important to get beyond that 38 rate. What day or month we do that is less important than ensuring we have a stable quality system and that we can move to a higher rate in a stable way. We’re in a cash-negative situation, and for us to be generating cash, we need to have the MAX production up around 38-40 a month. So it’s important to our overall recovery that we increase these rates. But we’re going to do it in a smart, safe way, in accordance with our safety and quality plan. Year-to-date, we’re ahead of our plan on deliveries, and we haven’t been pushing the deliveries; we’ve been pushing the safety and quality plan. So it’s playing out like we want.
The current 777F freighter is a valuable cash-earner for you, but under International Civil Aviation Organization emissions rules, production must end in 2027. Can you deliver the existing backlog by that deadline? We’re quite comfortable in being able to deliver the metal-wing freighters and meeting the certification timeline. So as you know, we have another freighter version with the composite wing, so that’ll come later. But yes, we’re pretty comfortable with our ability to do that, and our manufacturing flow for the freighters is going quite well.
Another delayed program is the new Air Force One. Donald Trump complained about it when he was elected president in 2016. Eight and a half years later, he’s still waiting, and he’s not happy. What changes are you making to execute on this program differently? A lot of changes. The president has asked Elon Musk to oversee and help us as we look at the program. We have been struggling with certain requirements that were just unachievable. In some cases, we’ve gotten relief from those requirements, and Elon has been very helpful. I will tell you that we’ve made more progress on the airplane in the last four months than we made in the last four years. We are closing jobs; the design is getting very, very close to completely closed. And then it’s just a matter of building up the aircraft to that design. I’m pretty pleased with the progress. It’s not fast enough for POTUS, and he’s made that perfectly clear. So we’re going to do everything we can to go faster. Having said that, we’re not cutting any corners. We’ve got to make sure that this is a super-safe airplane and it meets the needs of the president and the national security.
Where are you in the program? We’ve been through a series of design reviews. We haven’t published a schedule yet with the Air Force, although I think we’re getting close. The Air Force has made some statements talking about a 2027 delivery, which has pulled up significantly from where it was. So we’ll be making more public announcements on the details of the schedule in concert with the Air Force.
The main thrust of Boeing’s internal safety and quality plan is instilling a culture of change all the way down to the factory floor. They have to buy into your system, safety first, the leadership. From your seat as CEO, what is the most effective thing you can do to help drive that change? Major culture change is one of my key turnaround focus areas. I’ve talked to our leadership about the need to get close to the people building and designing the airplanes. That’s literally why I’m here in Seattle. That’s why, right after this interview, I’m going out on the factory floor to talk to people building the 737 MAX. We’ve got to be closer and helping our people be successful. We did a voice-of-the-employee survey this year, the first one in five years. It gave us great feedback on areas where we’ve got to improve. We’re creating action plans to address that. I’ve done a lot of work in changing the culture of a company. It’s not a poster on the wall. People watch the behaviors of the leadership, and that’s what drives change. This is going to be an important year as we drive that into the organization. People need to see us walk the talk from the top down.
You’ve made a few changes to your leadership team. Is what we see now the team going forward for the foreseeable future? I think the leadership team is getting pretty well, and that’s helping, as we’re starting to see progress. But we’ll continue to supplement the team as necessary. I think as we move through our values and behavior implementation this year, that could cause some shift in leadership—maybe not at my direct level, but at other levels. Because we’re making it clear that we’re going to shift the culture of the company, and our leaders have to buy into that or we’re going to have to put different people in those roles. We won’t be shy to make the necessary changes we need to drive the culture change that’s important for our future.
You’re renowned for what you did with the culture at the old Rockwell Collins. Boeing is a much bigger company. How do you reduce bureaucracy and internal complexity in an enterprise as big as Boeing? It’s a good question. When I ran Collins Aerospace, we had 77,000 employees. At Boeing we have 160,000 employees, so the scale is massively different. And to scale the culture change is probably the biggest challenge I have. When we went through our workforce reduction last fall, we targeted layers of management, and in certain areas we’ve eliminated two entire layers of management so that we can make decisions faster, be more streamlined, get closer to our employees. It’s the same process. It’s just a bigger scale, and it’s going to take more diligence and probably a little longer.
Boeing had zero write-downs in its first quarter. Does this mean we’re done seeing these every quarter? We had a good quarter, no write downs, but we are definitely not claiming victory. We’ve got a lot of work to do on these fixed-price [military] programs. I am proud of the team’s focus on baseline management, and in some cases where we’re working with the customers to adjust the contract in win-win ways. This allows us to be more successful and them to get their product at an earlier date. The T-7 is kind of our case-study program. We restructured that through a [memorandum of agreement] with the Air Force. We are ticking off the new milestones on schedule, and they’re very pleased. The more we can get into an environment where we’re working with the customer to create the win-win, the less the large [write-downs], I think we’ve changed our focus and are making progress on these big fixed price programs.
Boeing Global Services (BGS) recently divested several businesses that were platform-agnostic. In the future, will BGS be more focused on supporting Boeing programs versus agnostic? There’s two answers to that. The Boeing programs, and certainly the proprietary parts, are critically important to our economic engine and to the support of our customers. That’s super-core to the company. But we also have parts distribution businesses where we’re selling parts that aren’t a part of Boeing. That’s a nice business—it generates a good cash flow and is operating really well. So I think our BGS business remains core to us. [But] we’re looking across portfolios. You mentioned the divestiture that we recently announced out of BGS in our digital data services business. We’ll continue to look at those things that maybe don’t create value to the core of what we’re doing. But in the main, the BGS business is critical to our success, our customers’ success and our future.
Sustainability suddenly seems to be out of fashion. Do you think there’s any chance of the industry making its target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050? I think there’s great opportunities for us, but we have to continue to invest in the capabilities [like] SAF [sustainable aviation fuel]. SAF has to play a major role. We’re not a SAF supplier, but we want to make sure that all of our aircraft are 100% SAF-capable. So we’re making those investments and continuing to help the airlines as they look at how they do carbon credit trading and become more efficient. I think that’s the path. It’s not going to be a silver bullet. I don’t know if we’ll get there, but I think it’s a noble goal, and we ought to continue to drive everything we can to get as close to it as possible.
AW&ST: The big story for Boeing this year is your win of the U.S. Air Force’s F-47 fighter contract. Congratulations. It’s the single largest investment we’ve ever made in a defense program. We’ve been investing for years. This was a well-run competition, and I think we did an excellent job in putting an offer forward that was superior to the competition. We invested in prototype aircraft and facilities, and I think that investment has paid off. So, a huge win for us, because we don’t have a position in the current fifth-generation fighter. To have this sixth generation really sets the stage for our St. Louis fighter operations. We still have the F-15 and F/A-18 programs, but they’re reaching end of life, particularly the F/A-18. So this is going to be really important for us for decades to come.
Before Boeing won the F-47, its defense business was widely viewed as floundering. There were even questions about who would want it if you tried to spin it off. It resets the stage for our future in the fighter business. We’ve got the T-7 [trainer] franchise, which is just coming in. We’ve got continuation of the [KC-46] tanker franchise. So this was an important element in several ways. It’s the first sixth-generation program, and we had the technology ready to do that. I think a lot of people were probably surprised at that. What we’ve been doing in the dark cloud in investment for that program really paid off. I’m pleased to say we have what it takes to be providing state-of-the-art, next generation capability. And some of those things from the defense business will help us as we think about our next commercial platforms as well. So we’ve got what it takes to recover this business. I’m not worried that we’ve lost a step and can’t recover. We’ve just got to execute better.
You’ve been big on program execution. What is Boeing doing differently on the F-47? Much more rigorous baseline management, making sure we have our supply chain aligned with the contract. Some of the large fixed-price contracts that we’ve had in the past have been problematic because we didn’t have back-to-back alignment with our supply chain, and that got us into real challenges. So we’ve focused on making sure we’ve got that understood, and we’ve invested heavily to reduce the risk. We’re at a very mature stage for a program of this nature. We’re going to be able to go faster and not incur those risks in the middle of the development program.
What are the two or three biggest risks current tariff policies pose to Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA)? The input tariffs, where we pay a 10% tariff, are predominantly impacting us for wings and fuselages in Japan and Italy. We’re not in a position to pass those [costs] along to our customers. I’m hopeful that, as each of these country-by-country negotiations resolve, those tariffs will go away in the long run. Luckily, 80% of our supply chain comes out of the U.S. In some cases, if you pay a tariff and then [export] the airplane, you actually can draw back on the tariff. A large portion of our backlog is international, so that would be more of a cash timing issue than a margin performance issue.
The other issue, probably more impactful, is if any retaliatory tariffs are applied. We are seeing that right now in China, and that is causing Chinese airlines not to take delivery of [U.S.made] aircraft. We certainly hope this doesn’t escalate to where other countries apply retaliatory tariffs and we get in a situation that we can’t deliver the airplanes we have in the production system today. Now, there is tremendous demand for airplanes overall, so we can [find another buyer] if there is a certain region where we can’t make deliveries. But it’s not easy to shift quickly, because airplanes are painted in an airline livery, the interiors are aligned to that airline, so to go sell that to a different customer takes work. I’m in regular contact with the administration, all the way to POTUS. They are clearly focused on making sure the aerospace and defense business continues to be an export engine. They’re watching very closely, and their intent is to help us, not hurt us. It’s a very dynamic time. Every day is a new day with tariffs.
Boeing is the prime contractor for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) core stage. The Trump administration is proposing to terminate the SLS, and there is much uncertainty about NASA’s future direction. Do you see space as a core part of Boeing's future? Absolutely. I think some of the challenges we’ve had with Starliner [Boeing’s crew vehicle] have overshadowed our space portfolio. We’ve got a tremendous portfolio, particularly in the secure national security space regime. I think the manned space, commercial and NASA business is going to be dependent on where the budget goes and what the country wants to invest in those programs. But that doesn’t implicate our overall commitment to space and national security space. With the work we’re doing with the X-37B [orbital test vehicle], there are great opportunities for us in the future. We’re a world leader in space. A lot of that is classified business, but we’re going to stay committed to the space sector.
Do you think the SLS could survive in a different form or at least be extended further? I have no privileged insight to give you. I’m following the budget and the [Trump] administration priorities as much as everybody. We’re just going to have to react to what that is. Whether that’s a few more launches and then a wind-down or a redirection is yet to be seen.
Boeing’s decision to put NASA’s X-66 Transonic Truss-Braced Wing demonstrator aircraft on ice was a bit of a surprise. Your predecessor, Dave Calhoun, had pointed to the X-66 as a potential pathway to the 737 single-aisle replacement market. What changed? I don’t know if anything really changed as much as the value we thought we were going to get out of the program. We’ve redirected the resources to continue to invest in the areas we think are going to be more impactful to a future aircraft program. So I think it’s making sure we’re not spending valuable resources on a prototype airplane that’s not getting us what we need in terms of technology development. It has been a great program, and we learned a lot from it. And we are going to continue our investments in elements that we think will have value in our future airplanes.
"I'm in regular contact with the administration, all the way to POTUS."
Namely thin-wing technology? Yes. We didn’t want to spend a lot of our resources on what I’ll call mundane maintenance of an aircraft. We’re focusing on the technology areas. That’s the shift you’re seeing.
As you look to Boeing’s next commercial airplane, where do you see the company prioritizing research? The near-term priorities are, from a commercial perspective, getting the current development programs through the certification process. We’re hoping to get the two variants of the 737 MAX wrapped up this year so we can start deliveries of the -7 and the -10, two airplanes that are very, very important to our customers and our backlog. And then the 777-9, which will be the largest dual-engine widebody in the market. We’ve got four [777-9s] in flight test, and we’re making great progress. I think that’s going to be a game changing platform for us.
In terms of what’s next, I view it as different work streams:
One: “When is the market ready?” Two: “When is the technology ready?” And three: “When are we ready and can financially handle that?”
We’re not ready on any of those work streams today, but we need to be when the market is ready for a new aircraft. Remember, we have half a trillion dollars of backlog, and most of that is commercial products. We have huge demand for those products, and I would say there’s more focus on upgrading existing aircraft, putting new engines and capability on them.
There is growing demand for airplanes in the midmarket sector, which Boeing looked at five years ago. Now startups such as JetZero are trying to penetrate that market. Do you think you’ll begin to look at a new product for the 2030s? We’re constantly looking. Looking is one thing; launching is another. We’re in the early innings of our recovery. We’re still in a negative cash situation. We’re going to get that turned around by the second half of the year, but we’ve got to get our company healthy. We’ll continue to do our research to be ready, but I’m not going to put a date on it because all three of those work streams have to have a thumbs-up for us to go. And right now, they all have a thumbs-down. Hopefully our recovery will stay on track, and that will give us more flexibility to do something.
Are you concerned that Airbus is pulling too far ahead in its market advantage? No. We are behind [in certifying] the 737-10 in that segment of the market. We need to get that airplane certified so we can compete. We’re in great shape with our widebody product line. We’ve got to get the 777 in place. But I’m not too concerned that we’ve fallen significantly behind. We’re doing things in our labs that we’re not talking about to be prepared for the next generation.
You’ve called out certification as a focus area for BCA leadership and talked about Boeing needing to be more proactive. Could you expand on that? What I was specifically talking about is working with the FAA in a more proactive way to ensure that we don’t see continuous delays in the certification process, especially when it’s administrative or documentation review or documentation back-and-forth between us and the FAA. I’m very encouraged with the new FAA leadership. I’ve had meetings with Secretary [Sean] Duffy at the Department of Transportation, and he’s come out and talked with our employees. We need to work together to streamline that process. It has gotten way too elongated. We’ve seen progress. We recently got FAA type inspection authorization approvals for the 777-9. But there’s still a lot of work to do, particularly on the 777X, to get that certification complete. That’s going to be a continued focus for us for the rest of the year.
The 777X program was launched at the 2013 Dubai Airshow. You had just become CEO of Rockwell Collins, a key supplier to the program. Could you have ever imagined at that time we would be here in 2025, and it still wouldn’t be in service? No. I’m still shocked. Now, it’s partially driven by circumstances outside of the 777X program. The extra regulations that came out and the whole certification process were driven more by the MAX situation than anything on 777X. It’s amazing that it has not been in service for years. But it isn’t, and the task at hand is to get it over the finish line.
Are you satisfied with where the program is today? Yes. The performance of the four that are flying is fantastic. We’ve got more hours on this airplane than any other we’ve ever put into production service. So we feel really good about having a good entry into service. Customers have hung with us through that long delay because they see value in the airplane. I think it’s going to be a great product for us once we get through the near-term certification challenge.
Where are you on ramping up 737 MAX production? We now have three lines running and flowing, and we have [an FAA-imposed] rate cap of 38 [per month]. It is important to get beyond that 38 rate. What day or month we do that is less important than ensuring we have a stable quality system and that we can move to a higher rate in a stable way. We’re in a cash-negative situation, and for us to be generating cash, we need to have the MAX production up around 38-40 a month. So it’s important to our overall recovery that we increase these rates. But we’re going to do it in a smart, safe way, in accordance with our safety and quality plan. Year-to-date, we’re ahead of our plan on deliveries, and we haven’t been pushing the deliveries; we’ve been pushing the safety and quality plan. So it’s playing out like we want.
The current 777F freighter is a valuable cash-earner for you, but under International Civil Aviation Organization emissions rules, production must end in 2027. Can you deliver the existing backlog by that deadline? We’re quite comfortable in being able to deliver the metal-wing freighters and meeting the certification timeline. So as you know, we have another freighter version with the composite wing, so that’ll come later. But yes, we’re pretty comfortable with our ability to do that, and our manufacturing flow for the freighters is going quite well.
Another delayed program is the new Air Force One. Donald Trump complained about it when he was elected president in 2016. Eight and a half years later, he’s still waiting, and he’s not happy. What changes are you making to execute on this program differently? A lot of changes. The president has asked Elon Musk to oversee and help us as we look at the program. We have been struggling with certain requirements that were just unachievable. In some cases, we’ve gotten relief from those requirements, and Elon has been very helpful. I will tell you that we’ve made more progress on the airplane in the last four months than we made in the last four years. We are closing jobs; the design is getting very, very close to completely closed. And then it’s just a matter of building up the aircraft to that design. I’m pretty pleased with the progress. It’s not fast enough for POTUS, and he’s made that perfectly clear. So we’re going to do everything we can to go faster. Having said that, we’re not cutting any corners. We’ve got to make sure that this is a super-safe airplane and it meets the needs of the president and the national security.
Where are you in the program? We’ve been through a series of design reviews. We haven’t published a schedule yet with the Air Force, although I think we’re getting close. The Air Force has made some statements talking about a 2027 delivery, which has pulled up significantly from where it was. So we’ll be making more public announcements on the details of the schedule in concert with the Air Force.
The main thrust of Boeing’s internal safety and quality plan is instilling a culture of change all the way down to the factory floor. They have to buy into your system, safety first, the leadership. From your seat as CEO, what is the most effective thing you can do to help drive that change? Major culture change is one of my key turnaround focus areas. I’ve talked to our leadership about the need to get close to the people building and designing the airplanes. That’s literally why I’m here in Seattle. That’s why, right after this interview, I’m going out on the factory floor to talk to people building the 737 MAX. We’ve got to be closer and helping our people be successful. We did a voice-of-the-employee survey this year, the first one in five years. It gave us great feedback on areas where we’ve got to improve. We’re creating action plans to address that. I’ve done a lot of work in changing the culture of a company. It’s not a poster on the wall. People watch the behaviors of the leadership, and that’s what drives change. This is going to be an important year as we drive that into the organization. People need to see us walk the talk from the top down.
You’ve made a few changes to your leadership team. Is what we see now the team going forward for the foreseeable future? I think the leadership team is getting pretty well, and that’s helping, as we’re starting to see progress. But we’ll continue to supplement the team as necessary. I think as we move through our values and behavior implementation this year, that could cause some shift in leadership—maybe not at my direct level, but at other levels. Because we’re making it clear that we’re going to shift the culture of the company, and our leaders have to buy into that or we’re going to have to put different people in those roles. We won’t be shy to make the necessary changes we need to drive the culture change that’s important for our future.
You’re renowned for what you did with the culture at the old Rockwell Collins. Boeing is a much bigger company. How do you reduce bureaucracy and internal complexity in an enterprise as big as Boeing? It’s a good question. When I ran Collins Aerospace, we had 77,000 employees. At Boeing we have 160,000 employees, so the scale is massively different. And to scale the culture change is probably the biggest challenge I have. When we went through our workforce reduction last fall, we targeted layers of management, and in certain areas we’ve eliminated two entire layers of management so that we can make decisions faster, be more streamlined, get closer to our employees. It’s the same process. It’s just a bigger scale, and it’s going to take more diligence and probably a little longer.
Boeing had zero write-downs in its first quarter. Does this mean we’re done seeing these every quarter? We had a good quarter, no write downs, but we are definitely not claiming victory. We’ve got a lot of work to do on these fixed-price [military] programs. I am proud of the team’s focus on baseline management, and in some cases where we’re working with the customers to adjust the contract in win-win ways. This allows us to be more successful and them to get their product at an earlier date. The T-7 is kind of our case-study program. We restructured that through a [memorandum of agreement] with the Air Force. We are ticking off the new milestones on schedule, and they’re very pleased. The more we can get into an environment where we’re working with the customer to create the win-win, the less the large [write-downs], I think we’ve changed our focus and are making progress on these big fixed price programs.
Boeing Global Services (BGS) recently divested several businesses that were platform-agnostic. In the future, will BGS be more focused on supporting Boeing programs versus agnostic? There’s two answers to that. The Boeing programs, and certainly the proprietary parts, are critically important to our economic engine and to the support of our customers. That’s super-core to the company. But we also have parts distribution businesses where we’re selling parts that aren’t a part of Boeing. That’s a nice business—it generates a good cash flow and is operating really well. So I think our BGS business remains core to us. [But] we’re looking across portfolios. You mentioned the divestiture that we recently announced out of BGS in our digital data services business. We’ll continue to look at those things that maybe don’t create value to the core of what we’re doing. But in the main, the BGS business is critical to our success, our customers’ success and our future.
Sustainability suddenly seems to be out of fashion. Do you think there’s any chance of the industry making its target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050? I think there’s great opportunities for us, but we have to continue to invest in the capabilities [like] SAF [sustainable aviation fuel]. SAF has to play a major role. We’re not a SAF supplier, but we want to make sure that all of our aircraft are 100% SAF-capable. So we’re making those investments and continuing to help the airlines as they look at how they do carbon credit trading and become more efficient. I think that’s the path. It’s not going to be a silver bullet. I don’t know if we’ll get there, but I think it’s a noble goal, and we ought to continue to drive everything we can to get as close to it as possible.
tLS
Старожил
Boeing set to restart jet handovers to China amid trade spat — flight data
Boeing Co has begun shipping commercial jets to China for the first time since early April, indicating a reopening of trade flows amid the long-simmering tariff war between the US and Asia’s biggest economy.
theedgemalaysia.com
недавно "непринятый" макс полетел обратно в китай
G8000
Местный
Пока эта сладкая парочка А и Б вместо того чтобы создавать новые самолеты бдут продолжать строить друг другу глазки появятся на рынке С и Е. В медиа есть публикации что среди авиакомпаний сложилось мнение что нужен третий производитель
Ту-155
Бывший
Так тупые же! ТУПЫЕ!!!
Не читают наш форум и конкретно генератора осевых...
Поэтому и счастья своего не понимают!
#АУ
Igor_f
Старожил
А есть у А и особенно Б свободные средства в больших размерах что бы финансировать подобную разработку с неочевидным результатом? Не уверен.
А если учесть что вполне вероятно ждут мировой кризис, который отразится и на перевозках, форсировать разработку чего то инновационного не очевидно, к тому есть ли эта инновация которая даст эффект в 15 - 20% по сравнению с существующими самолетами.
У С могут быть и средства и желании но их будут, да и уже тормозить и отбрасывать назад. Насколько получится вопрос открытый.
G8000
Местный
Проблемы с деньгами сейчас у боинга.
Проблемы у Эйрбас в основном производственные и отчасти инжинерные:
1. большой заказ на А320 - производственные
2. низкая производительность и высокая себестоимость А220. А220 дорогой в производстве с низкими темпами выпуска. аследие от бомбардье
Из текущих проектов с инжинерными затратами я вижу только A350F. но это модификация а не проект с нуля. Вопрос - а где весь инжеерный народ? Или Эйрбас над чем то тайно работает? Эйрбасу в отсутствие конкуренции и при огромном количестве невыполненных заказов нет смысла начинать что-то новое. Вот они и занимаются собиранием денег с продаж.
Летающее крыло на текущих технологиях дает порядка 30% улучшения в экономичности или эффективности или еще то там измеряют. Потому то эта идея не дает покоя.
А когда в прошлом году опубликовали данные опроса авиакомпаний, те заявили что им достаточно улучшения эффективности на 9%. Так что планка для третьего игрока чтобы выйти на рынок вполне приемлемая.
Я думаю Эмбраер смог бы
Ту-155
Бывший
Они никогда не решат проблему аварийной эвакуации.
Поэтому перейти от проектирования к конструированию для ЛК возможно только на военных машинах.
G8000
Местный
да там много чего не увязывается и что надо менять в правилах. посмотрим куда они с этим всем вырулят
Ту-155
Бывший
К фан-пропам они вырулят
astoronny
Probatorem orbis terrarum
Не уверен...
mishk
Старожил
Может быть. Но двигателисты ныне упёрлись видимо в свой потолок, каждое новое поколение двигателей всё хуже и хуже.
G8000
Местный
точно-точно. Leap пока что единственный не такой проблемный как все остальное. потому то BWB это 30% на существующих технологиях. их только вместе сложить надо. второй вариант я вижу - складное крыло сверхбольшого размаха
stranger267
Старожил
Никогда не говорите никогда. Уж что что а проблема эвакуации надумана от начала и до конца. И ее то уж всегда можно как то решить. Ну например рампу присобачить пошире, проходы по два метра, и пусть все назад выбегают, делов то... Да и правила сертификации это просто запись на бумаге, их и поменять могут.
По двигателям если учесть что два фактора - один термодинамика (температуры) а второй размеры вентилятора - никуда не делись и не поменяв их улучшить двигатели нельзя - остается или переходить на Ту-114 (кстати если довести вибрации и шум и увеличить количество пассажиров выйдет отличный и крайне экономичный самолет) или уж даже непонятно, разве что еще раздуть размеры... С температурой уже скоро в химические ограничения упрутся, температура сгорания керосина в воздухе штука данная и не очень то ее разгонишь, она химией определяется и за нее не перепрыгнуть.
Ту-155
Бывший
Оптимизм дилетанта.
stranger267
Старожил
А какие у них варианты то? Один железный фактор - размер вентилятора. Чем он больше тем двигатель экономичнее на крейсере.
Второй - разница температур в камере сгорания и на выхлопе. И эти два фактора все определяют. Температуры уже тащить некуда. Остается тащить размеры вентиляторов. Кончится все очередным Ту-114 если так подумать. Так как это уже предел по всем показателям. Больше вентиляторы уже не присобачить, разве что как у Оспрея, поворачивать их.
stranger267
Старожил
Нет. Это подход Маска - нет ничего невозможного. Все ему говорили что ракеты должны быть одноразовыми - он сделал сильно много разовые.
Так и тут. Кто то сделает лайнер в формате летающего крыла - и окажется что все это можно решить. Так как по двигателям уже двигаться некуда (кроме размеров). Гибридные схемы - на тех скоростях ничего не дадут. И остается что - летающее крыло. Ну или там очередная РАМА летающая. А эвакуация - мелкая проблема которую решить можно всегда.