Boeing profits take off as Dreamliner makes first commercial flight

Oct 26, 2011, 16:24 GMT

New York - Boeing had two reasons to celebrate Wednesday as it booked over 1 billion dollars in third-quarter profits and its long-delayed 787 Dreamliner made its first commercial flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong.

The Chicago-based aerospace and defence giant said profits for the quarter rose 31 per cent to 1.1 billion dollars compared to 837 million dollars a year ago, while sales climbed 4.5 per cent to 17.7 billion dollars.

As the plane's launch customer, All Nippon Airways, celebrated the Dreamliner's fist flight, Boeing confirmed previous estimates that it would turn a profit on the plane once it had sold 1,100 of them.

The company said Wednesday that it currently has 821 orders for the next-generation aircraft, which promises up to 20 per cent in fuel savings over current models, and also offers passengers a more spacious and comfortable interior.

Boeing has options for 200 more orders. However the project has been plagued by over three years of delays due to production problems and snags in the plane's worldwide network of suppliers, causing Boeing to incur lost orders and penalties from buyers.

But with the first flight for ANA, Boeing appears to have put those problems behind it, and raised guidance for the full 2011 year, in which it said it would book revenue of between 68 billion dollars and 70 billion dollars.

In total Boeing's commercial airplane sector saw third-quarter revenue increase by 9 per cent to 9.5 billion dollars, while the Defence, Space and Security division saw revenue flat at 8.2 billion dollars.

'Strong operational performance drove double-digit margins in both of our major businesses and produced an outstanding quarter,' said Boeing chairman, president and chief executive officer, Jim McNerney.

'We also strengthened our foundation for accelerated growth by completing development and certification of the 787-8 Dreamliner and 747-8 Freighter, launching the new 737 MAX, and continuing our disciplined ramp-up in commercial airplane production rates.'

In addition to delivering the first Dreamliner in the quarter, Boeing also delivered the first 747-8 freighter to Cargolux, and launched the 737 MAX, a new engine variant of the popular 737, for which the company has nearly 500 orders.

Boeing said it has 3,500 commercial airplanes on order worth 273 billion dollars.