Boeing: the silver lining. (sales increase after series of crashes) (American Survey)

Economist (US), The, March, 1989

Boeing The silver lining

WHEN Audi cars were suspected (wrongly, it now appears) of uncontrolled acceleration, sales drove off a cliff. But when a Boeing-built United Airlines 747 shed a substantial chunk of its fuselage off Hawaii in late February, analysts promptly revised their sales projections upwards for Seattle's aircraft colossus. If aging aeroplanes need to be replaced, Boeing most likely will supply the replacements.

Last year Boeing had sales of nearly $17 billion, with profits 28% above those of 1987. This year, after only ten weeks, Boeing's commercial-aircraft division had already sold 50 aircraft worth $5.4 billion. The company seems likely to surpass its own 1989 sales forecast of $22 billion. There is a backlog of 1,000 aircraft on...

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