The High and the Mighty : Boeing Further Distances Itself From Airbus in Orders Race

Boeing Co. announced a $1.18-billion order for seven 747-400s on Wednesday, giving it nearly $7.5 billion in new business to brag about at the Farnborough air show in Britain.

The deal with Philippine Airlines pushed Boeing even further ahead of archrival Airbus Industrie in the race to announce new orders.

Separately on Wednesday, Boeing confirmed that its chairman, Frank Shrontz, is planning to step down by the end of the year, as expected, to make way for the elevation of Chief Executive Phil Condit.

Airbus, lagging behind with less than half as many new orders, had nothing to report Wednesday, a spokeswoman said at Farnborough International ’96.

A day earlier, Airbus had unveiled orders for 32 jets worth $2.4 billion. Hoping not to be too badly outdone by its competitor, Airbus said it had deals almost in hand that bring its totals to $3 billion.

At the air show’s opening Monday, Boeing announced it had accumulated 68 firm orders worth $6.3 billion.

Boeing shares gained 75 cents Wednesday to close at $91.375 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Airplane makers use air shows to hawk their wares and cut deals, and they also try to demonstrate that they are outdoing their rivals. The shows often turn into publicity duels between the two market leaders, Seattle-based Boeing and Airbus, which is a European consortium from Britain, France, Germany and Spain.

But McDonnell Douglas Corp., the world’s third-largest commercial aircraft manufacturer, said its Long Beach-based Douglas Aircraft Co. subsidiary will remain a viable player by turning around its deep decline in market share.

In Farnborough on Wednesday, McDonnell unveiled detailed plans for its proposed long-range MD-XX passenger and freight airliner, saying it intends to start offering the plane to airlines later this year.

Production of the three-engine jetliner, which would seat as many as 375 passengers, would take approximately 44 months from the program’s formal launch, the company said at an air show news conference.

“Program plans aim at gaining approval from the McDonnell Douglas board to make formal MD-XX offers to airlines later this year,” said Walt Orlowski, the MD-XX program’s vice president.

If the orders needed for formal launch were booked early in 1997, that could lead to deliveries before the end of 2000, he added.

Although it will resemble the manufacturer’s current MD-11 in many operational respects, the MD-XX will feature an advanced cockpit with automatic system controllers doing much of the routine tasks of flying.

Meanwhile, the sale of the new 747s was a big win for Boeing, taking some of the sting out of the company’s failure at the show to debut two versions of the 747--the 747-500X and the 747-600X--that would fly farther and carry more passengers.

Boeing has yet to line up enough customers to formally launch the 747s, but Ron Woodard, president of the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, said he’s convinced the new models will be produced.

Airbus, meanwhile, hopes to break into the jumbo jet market with development of its own big airplane, the A3XX.