Boeing Will Likely Offer 767s To Tide Over Dreamliner Customers

There might be at least one bright spot for Boeing, as the American planemaker struggles to deliver its oft-delayed 787 Dreamliner to waiting customers. Those delivery delays -- some as long as 30 months -- means several airlines are looking for alternate planes to tide them over, and Boeing happens to have a similarly-sized widebody just waiting for more orders.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports Boeing's 767 production line in Everett, WA is currently cranking out just one plane per month, against an order backlog of just 49 planes. As recently as February -- after Boeing lost a lucrative US Air Force tanker contract to an Airbus-derived plane -- it looked as though production of the venerable widebody would end within two years... but the 787's problems might extend that timeframe significantly.

Sources tell the P-I Boeing plans to boost 767 production to two planes a month starting in 2009... regardless of whether Boeing wins its GAO protest of the KC-X award, and the contract goes out for rebid. The reason -- to provide waiting 787 customers with aircraft, as they wait for their composite-bodied wonders to arrive.

"Everyone on the line knows the rates are going up, and why," said one unidentified 767 worker. "It's not over yet."

Such a move isn't unprecedented. Most recently, Airbus bumped up production of its A330 family of twin-engine aircraft, to provide customers for its similarly-delayed A350 XWB with aircraft until that plane is ready for delivery in 2013. The line has also seen a resurgence due to the KC-X win -- the Northrop/EADS KC-45A is derived from the A330-200 commercial airliner -- as well as the recently-introduced A330 Freighter.

Arguably, the A330 and the even-older 767 are far from state-of-the-art aircraft, at least certainly not as advanced as the upcoming Dreamliner and XWB. But that doesn't matter for many airlines which had already planned new long-haul service with their planes, only to see those schedules pushed off for years... those carriers are willing to take what they can get.

Sources say Boeing is making a concerted effort to sell or lease more 767s... but the company won't officially comment.

FMI: www.boeing.com