CHICAGO – Boeing Co. is paring production of its 747-8 jumbo jet as stalled sales and sluggish demand for freighters have left it with two “whitetails” – models that were built and remain unsold.
Boeing hasn’t netted any new 747 orders this year, leaving a planned update of the U.S. presidential fleet as one of its strongest sales options. The Chicago-based company has a backlog of just 39 unfilled jumbo jet orders, according to its website.
The rate cut is the third announced by Boeing for its iconic hump-nosed jet in less than two years as a rebound in the air cargo market that it anticipated has been slow to take hold. Sales of a passenger version have slowed as carriers redesign route networks around more efficient models such as Boeing’s twin-engine 787-9 Dreamliner and 777.
“The 747 was really built to feed long-haul hubs,” said George Ferguson, a Bloomberg Intelligence senior analyst for air transportation. “More and more we are bypassing those hubs and going direct” to smaller destinations.
While long-haul hubs such as Dubai, London Heathrow and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport still attract enough passengers to fill aircraft in the 400- to 500-seat market, “there aren’t enough of them to justify full-scale production of very large aircraft,” Ferguson said.
Boeing plans to slow its factory tempo for the 747-8 in September to 1.3 jets a month from 1.5, said Doug Alder, a company spokesman. That would mean building 16 of its biggest-ever planes annually, a reduction of two from the
Article source: http://www.buffalonews.com/business/boeing-cuts-production-of-jumbos-in-dwindling-market-for-big-jets-20141209
