Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Scott Carson assured investors at the JP Morgan Chase conference that the airline will make its first Dreamliner flight before the end of June.
He understands when he and other Boeing executives are questioned and “scoffed at by the aviation industry’s cognoscenti.”
Carson says that “The stumbles we have made have been embarrassing for us…They’ve been embarrassing for our customers, who are counting on us to have the right product available on time.”
However, there’s a reason for being optimistic about the 787 Dreamliner. Despite 32 cancellations, Boeing has “846 firm orders for the 210- to 330-seat plane…No plane has ever had even half as many orders on the books before its first flight.”
But analysts say that the delay in delivering the Dreamliner may have damaged the company especially when it comes to competing with Airbus, its biggest rival.
Despite being three years late with delivery of the A380 and delays with delivering the A350, “Boeing has seen its competitor inch ahead in the number of sales and deliveries.”
“There was a moment where Boeing could have scored an enormous strategic victory and put Airbus in the distance for decades,” says Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst at the Teal Group in Fairfax, Va.
“But that moment has passed. Boeing still has an advantage now, just not the huge advantage they could have had.”
