Singapore Airlines Orders Jets Worth $10 Billion : Aviation: Purchase of Boeing 747s and Airbus A340s likely to help state’s aircraft parts industry.
Singapore Airlines ordered new wide-body jets valued at up to $10.3 billion from Boeing Co. and Airbus Industrie on Wednesday, giving another potential lift to California’s struggling aircraft parts industry.
The carrier placed firm orders for 11 Boeing 747s and options for an additional 11, while the package with Airbus, a European consortium, covers firm orders for 10 A340s and options for 20 more jets. The planes will be delivered between 1996 and 2003. The orders include spare engines and other parts.
While the orders are not expected to trigger immediate gains in production or jobs among the hundreds of airplane subcontractors in California, they are another sign that the commercial aircraft industry is rebounding from a 4-year-old slump--and that further big layoffs at the parts makers might be avoided.
About 320 California firms supply components for the 747 alone, according to Seattle-based Boeing.
The order is “generally good news,” said Tony Cantafio, spokesman for Northrop Grumman Corp., whose Hawthorne plant makes 747 fuselages and cargo and passenger doors. “Although it will have no immediate impact, it would help sustain employment” later this decade, he said.
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The same is true at Zevco Inc., a small Laguna Hills maker of hydraulic valves for the 747, A340 and other aircraft, said Henning R. Otto, vice president for marketing. Zevco, which employs 22 people, does not plan substantial hiring anytime soon, but the order “certainly makes you feel more comfortable as you plan ahead,” Otto said.
“We’re delighted with any order of that size,” he said.
The Singapore Airlines deal follows Saudi Arabia’s $6-billion order earlier this year for jets from Boeing and McDonnell Douglas, whose Douglas Aircraft unit builds its planes in Long Beach. China also is reportedly considering a $5-billion order for new aircraft.
Singapore Airlines does not operate McDonnell Douglas jets, and the St. Louis-based company was not formally invited to bid for this latest order.
The big order indicates that Singapore Airlines, which flies to 70 cities in 40 countries, plans to increase both its geographical reach and the frequency of its service, analysts said. The carrier is already considered one of the industry’s financially stronger airlines.
