ORLANDO, Fla., 14 March 2013. Boeing (NYSE:BA) continues to increase aircraft production rates in response to strong demand for the company’s commercial airplanes and its healthy backlog, officials say.
"The data tells us the market is strong and will continue to be strong. That's why we're confident as we raise our production rates," says Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "Supply and demand will continue to be in balance as we put more airplanes into the hands of our customers."
Passenger traffic is growing faster than capacity, utilization rates and airline load factors are at historic levels, and airlines continue to replace older, less fuel-efficient airplanes, Tinseth adds. "All these factors play into our decision to ramp up production in a methodical, deliberate way. We constantly pulse the market to make sure we're exactly where we need to be. We've done an exhaustive analysis of the data. Everything tells us that airplanes are long-lived assets and continue to be good investments."
Boeing is increasing the production of its 737 program to a rate of 38 airplanes per month; it will expand to 42 per month in the first half of 2014. The company ramped up production of the 777 program to a record 8.3 airplanes per month (or 100 per year). Boeing anticipates the 787 program to increase from 5 per month to 10 per month by the end of this year.
