Commercial Aircraft

Commercial Aircraft

For more than three decades, Boeing has led the world in producing commercial airplanes. Since the start of the jet age in air travel, we have built nearly 8,000 jetliners, more than all other manufacturers combined.

With the highest integrity, we will give more value to our customers and be more nimble in meeting their needs, by being the best in the world at what we do.

To maintain our industry leadership, we are changing the way we do business to better serve the needs of our airline customers. In developing our newest jetliner, the 777, airline representatives—for the first time in our history—participated fully in the design process, working side by side with Boeing people to ensure that every aspect of the new airplane would meet the demands of the markets it was intended to serve. This "working together" strategy, which relies on cross-functional teams within the company and the participation of both customers and suppliers, was so successful on the 777 that it has become the model for all new-airplane programs at Boeing.

We’ve struck the right combination of lowest cost per trip and lowest cost per seat in each market, giving our customers lower operating costs than competing aircraft.

777 in Service

The 777 started passenger service in May 1995, flying both domestic and trans-Atlantic routes. As a result of the most extensive program of pre-flight and flight testing in commercial aviation history, the 777’s in-service reliability and performance has been outstandingfrom day one. Prior to delivery, the 777 underwent the equivalent of a year’s daily passenger service to ensure its reliability to fly all intended missions—including long, transoceanic routes. Since the 777 was first offered to the world’s airlines in October 1990, it has been the clear market leader, capturing nearly 80 percent of all orders for airplanes in its class.

Family of Airplanes

	The 747-400 seats 420 to 569 passengers. With its huge capacity, long range and fuel efficiency, the 747 offers the lowest operating cost per seat of any commercial jetliner. The 747-400 is available in an all-cargo freighter version, as well as a Combi model for passengers and cargo. O R D E R S : 1 ,1 9 2 * D E L I V E R I E S : 1 ,0 7 1
	The 777-200, which seats 305 to 440 passengers, depending on configuration, has a range of up to 5,300 miles. A longer-range model to be delivered in 1996 will be able to fly more than 8,300 miles. The 777-300, which will be delivered in 1998, is about 33 feet longer than the -200 and can carry from 368 to 550 passengers, depending on the seating configuration. O R D E R S : 2 3 0 * D E L I V E R I E S : 1 3
	The 767-200 can fly 210 passengers more than 7,500 miles in its extended-range version. The 767-300 offers 20 percent more passenger seating. More flights between North America and Europe are now made with 767s than any other airplane. The first 767 freighter was delivered in 1995. O R D E R S : 7 1 3 * D E L I V E R I E S : 5 9 5
	Seating from 180 to 230 passengers, depending on configuration, the 757 is ideal for high-demand, short-to-medium range operations and can also fly nonstop intercontinental routes. In the past five years, U.S. customers have taken delivery of more 757s than any other aircraft. A freighter version is available. O R D E R S : 8 2 6 * D E L I V E R I E S : 6 9 4
	The Boeing 737 is the best-selling commercial jetliner of all time. With the addition of the 737-600, -700 and -800, the family has been expanded, while maintaining the same flight-crew rating. The 737 is the only airplane family to span the entire 100- to 189-seat market. O R D E R S : 3 ,2 5 5 * D E L I V E R I E S : 2 ,7 6 4

*Orders and deliveries as of December 31, 1995. Order numbers represent those publicly announced by customers and do not include options.
Announced orders are not all represented in contractual backlog as included in the Financial Report.

Boeing continues to manage for the long term, making the necessary investments in product research, design and development, and process improvement to ensure our industry leadership in the years ahead.

New 737 Series

The 737 is the best-selling jetliner in aviation history, with more than 3,200 orders. In adding three new 737 models, the -600, -700 and -800, our objective was to add design features that would improve performance, while maintaining the simplicity, reliability and low operating costs of the current series. The new 737s will provide airlines with more range, speed and operating flexibility, while preserving a high degree of commonality with current models. This means that customers who fly today’s 737s will have minimal retraining costs for pilots and ground crews—as well as greater efficiency in spare parts provisioning—when they add the newer models to their fleets. The first delivery of a new-generation 737 is scheduled for 1997.

Product Development Strategy

To ensure that our product line continues to offer the best available solution to customer needs, we are researching the market potential for new derivatives of our current airplane family, as well as entirely new designs. Our near-term focus is on derivatives of existing models that would enable airlines to better match airplane capacity to demand or to serve longer-range markets. Projects under study include larger-capacity versions of the 757, 767 and 747, as well as longer-range derivatives of the 747 and 777. Further out on the planning horizon, we are also studying the prospects for the next-generation supersonic transport and an airplane much larger than the current 747-400. The decision to launch any new program is always driven by market demand and the expected return on investment.

The world’s most extensive network of field service bases and spares distribution centers.

Adding Value with Customer Service

Boeing has long set the industry standard for customer service. We maintain field representatives in 60 countries, supporting nearly 600 airlines. We opened a new avionics service center in Singapore during 1995 to provide more support for customer airlines in Asia, and we maintain seven spare parts distribution centers in Atlanta, Beijing, Brussels, London, Los Angeles, Seattle and Singapore. We are the only airplane manufacturer that offers next-day shipment of routine spares, and we can ship parts within two hours when an aircraft is grounded for urgent repairs. Because Boeing stocks parts around the world and provides such prompt shipment, airlines can reduce the cost of holding their own parts inventories.

Digital Online Services

We are making sweeping improvements in the way we deliver technical information to airline customers around the world. Boeing is the first airplane manufacturer to offer customers direct online access to a central database that provides engineering drawings and parts lists needed for aircraft maintenance and repair. In mid-1996 we will begin offering online delivery of service bulletins, and maintenance and repair documentation. The switch from paper to digital formats is allowing us to provide more data more efficiently to help our customers reduce the cost of maintaining their Boeing fleets.

In 1996 Boeing and China: 25 Years of Cooperation

Boeing and China will celebrate 25 years of cooperation. Since our first sale of 707s to China in 1972, the Boeing presence in China has grown dramatically. Today there are more than 240 Boeing jetliners operating in China—the fastest-growing air travel market in the world. In addition to meeting the demand for commercial aircraft, Boeing is helping China train more pilots and improve safety and air traffic control. China is also becoming an important Boeing supplier, providing parts and assemblies for the 737, 757 and 747. Between now and the year 2015, Boeing projects that China will require about $100 billion worth of new commercial jet aircraft.

Photo:. Customer service representatives based in China help airlines maintain their growing fleet of Boeing jetliners.

Our long-term commitment to radically simplify the complex process of designing and building commercial aircraft will reduce costs and shorten flowtime.

Improving Processes

To deliver more value to our customers and our shareholders, we are committed to reducing the time and cost required to build our products and to develop new ones. Because Boeing suppliers produce about half of each airplane sold, our decisions on which parts to make and which to buy are critical to our cost structure. During 1995 we made decisions that will increase external procurement over the next several years, with the expectation of saving substantial sums in recurring costs. In 1994 we began a major initiative, scheduled for completion in 1998, to create a more efficient process for handling airplane configuration data. The initiative will simplify and streamline the complex process now used to engineer each aircraft order to customer specifications. In addition, the new system will simplify the processes used to schedule and order parts and manage inventory. This improved engineering system, combined with the switch to more efficient manufacturing techniques, is expected to significantly reduce both the time and cost required to produce our airplanes.