Turbulent times hit Boeing hard

THE once-mighty Boeing has seen its dominant position in the world’s aerospace industry undermined this year (Angela Jameson writes).

Airbus, its European rival, now supplies aircraft for more than half the civil market and the company has won more high-profile orders than Boeing this year.

Boeing, which once had 80 per cent of the civil market, has also gone through several years of hesitation over which way the sector will develop.

That means that Airbus’s next major model, the A380, will be ready for take-off before Boeing’s next model, the environmentally friendly but smaller 7E7. There are 139 firm orders for the A380 while Boeing has confirmed just 52 sales orders for its new model.

Boeing’s reputation has also been hit by a string of scandals, which led to the resignation of Phil Condit, Boeing’s chairman, and the sacking of Mike Sears, its finance director, at the end of last year.