Apologizes To Customers For Strike Delays, Giving Up Market Share

In a speech Friday to the Cargo Facts Aircraft Symposium in Seattle, Boeing Commercial Airplane Sales Team leader Scott Carson took the somewhat unusual step of apologizing to Boeing's customers for several things, including the "pain" resulting from delivery delays caused by an ongoing mechanics strike.

While acknowledging that members of the International Association of Machinists helped Boeing improve its production efficiency in recent years, Carson (file photo, above) also called them "some of the best-paid mechanics in the world" who were asking Boeing for "more than we were willing to give," as reported in the Seattle Times.

In his speech, Carson also acknowledged mistakes the company believes it made that allowed Airbus to surpass Boeing for sales supremacy. "The Boeing Company wasn't lying down," said Carson. "We just allowed ourselves to step back from our customers too far."

In the wake of 9/11, Boeing rescheduled over 1,000 airplane deliveries to ease financial burdens on American carriers suddenly hit with massive drops in their passenger loads. An unintended consequence of that action, said Carson, is that the company "lost contact with a lot of [international] customers."

Those customers, perhaps feeling slighted by Boeing, then gave their business to European rival Airbus, aiding that company's efforts to grab the sales crown from the American manufacturer. Attempts are being made to rebuild those relationships now, Carson said, resulting in the high number of international orders seen this year for such aircraft as the 787 Dreamliner and the 747 Advanced.

According to Carson, the post 9/11 downturn in orders and deliveries forced Boeing to "recognize that we have a competitor overseas that has a production system that is more efficient than our own, and fix it." Boeing soon adopted many of the lean-production methods of its rival, allowing it to better match costs with Airbus.

Although the company now has 605 orders on the books for 2005 -- its best total since 1999 -- Boeing has delivered no new airplanes since the machinist's strike began on September 2. While such a delay hurts customers as well as Boeing, Carson believes that such a hard stance against the machinists union is necessary.

"We believe economically it is important to go through this for the industry," he said.

Even considering the Boeing's past missteps and its current labor issues, one thing is clear: Carson does not intend for Boeing to be following Airbus for much longer.
 
"When you're number two," Carson said, "it's not a good place to wake up to."

FMI: www.boeing.com