Boeing Cuts 747 Production Again

Boeing reported just 26 unfilled orders for the passenger version of the planes and 13 orders for the freighter version at the end of November. Since the first delivery in 1970, Boeing has delivered 1,498 of the various models of the 747.

The four-engine 747-8 carries up to 467 passengers, far fewer than the 555 that can squeeze into the A380 from Airbus. Two-engine planes like the 787 and the A350 are more economical on many of the routes that the 747 was originally designed to fly, and the A380 is more economical than the 747 on the longest routes.

Boeing had tried to sell the freighter version of the plane, the 747-8F, and still believes that it can build a market for the freighter. Airbus has taken orders for a total of 318 A380s and delivered 147, leaving 171 on its order book. Airbus delivered three A380s in November, out of 25 total deliveries for the year. Boeing has delivered 16 747s through November this year, a rate of about 1.5 per month.

In its most recent market outlook published in July of this year, Boeing showed an Airbus slide indicating that there are 42 so-called mega-cities that handle more than 10,000 long-haul passengers per day. Boeing put this heading on the slide: “There is nothing to this story. They’ve (Airbus) been telling it for 15 years and still … nothing.”

If there is nothing there for Airbus, it is equally true that there is nothing there for Boeing.

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