Boeing to Seek Orders for 7E7 Jetliner

Boeing Co. on Tuesday took a major step toward manufacturing its first new commercial passenger jet model in more than a decade when the company announced it would begin marketing its proposed 7E7 Dreamliner to airlines.

In a widely anticipated decision, Boeing directors also approved plans to assemble the dolphin-like 250-seat aircraft in Everett, Wash., where for decades it has built larger twin-aisle planes such as the 747. The site selection capped intense jockeying by 80 communities across the country to woo the aircraft maker away from its traditional base in the Puget Sound area.

Chief Executive Harry Stonecipher, who has been on the job for only two weeks, announced the board’s decision to a rousing throng of about 3,000 employees who had been bused to the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in downtown Seattle for the occasion.

“The 7E7 is a real game changer,” Stonecipher said, just after pumping his arms in a “raise the roof” gesture. “Now let’s go sell it.”

The go-ahead decision came at a critical juncture for the world’s largest aerospace company, which in the last year has been rocked by scandals, management turmoil and intensifying competition from its archrival Airbus.

Stonecipher, a 67-year-old former Boeing president, was called out of retirement after Chief Executive Philip Condit resigned abruptly Dec. 1 amid allegations of ethical misconduct and corporate espionage by some employees.

Meanwhile, Boeing has been losing market share for commercial aircraft and analysts have asserted that the company needs to build the 7E7 to regain its once dominant position. Airbus is expected to surpass Boeing this year as the world’s largest maker of commercial aircraft, a stunning reversal from eight years ago when four out of every five new passenger jets were made by Boeing.

During the last three years, Boeing scrapped plans for both a larger version of its venerable 747 and the super fast Sonic Cruiser, while Airbus moved ahead with production of its A380, a 550-passenger super jumbo jet.

The A380 is expected to enter service by 2006 while the 7E7, intended to be a highly efficient airplane made mostly with lightweight composites, could start flying by 2008.

It was not immediately clear what role aerospace companies in Southern California would have in assembling the 7E7. The final decision to begin production is not expected until the middle of next year after Boeing has lined up commitments from airlines to buy the plane.

Boeing is the largest private employer in the Southland, with more than 36,000 workers, most of whom work on Pentagon contracts. A small Boeing group in Long Beach builds the 717, a 106-seat plane. Vought Aircraft Industries, which was named a key 7E7 supplier last month, currently builds the 747 fuselage sections in Hawthorne.

To keep Boeing from going elsewhere to build the 7E7, the Washington legislature approved a $3.2-billion development and tax incentive package to keep the company in the Puget Sound area. Boeing currently assembles all its larger aircraft, the 747, 767 and 777, in Everett.

Smaller, single-aisle jets are assembled in nearby Renton. Having the 7E7 assembled elsewhere would have represented a huge blow to Washington, where the company was founded and where Boeing has built all of its jets since rolling out the 707 in the early 1950s.

Boeing’s shares closed Tuesday at $39.93, up 73 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange.