An aerial photo shows Boeing 737 MAX airplanes parked on the tarmac on the Boeing Factory in Renton, Washington, U.S. March 21, 2019.
Lindsey Wasson | Reuters
SINGAPORE — Boeing won’t be bringing any business planes to the Singapore Airshow, shifting the highlight for passenger jets to rival Airbus in addition to China’s homegrown offering.
It comes as Boeing reported a decline in aircraft orders and deliveries in January within the aftermath of a midflight blowout of a fuselage panel on one among its 737 Max 9s firstly of the 12 months.
While there will probably be aerial displays of economic liners by Airbus and China’s domestic jetliner Comac C919, Boeing won’t have any business aircraft on the air show.
To be clear, Boeing will still be showcasing its defense capabilities, and will probably be featuring lots of its fighter jets, including the B-52 Stratofortress which is able to take part in the U.S. Air Force aerial display.
While no business jets will probably be featured, Boeing will still be holding a cabin display of its wide-body 777X passenger plane, which the corporate claims is the world’s largest twin-engine jet. Deliveries for the aircraft, expected from 2025, have been plagued with delays.
The Singapore Airshow — held from Feb. 20 to 25 — is often attended by tens of hundreds, including military delegations and aviation enthusiasts.
Other aerospace and defense bellwethers including Lockheed Martin, Dassault, SAAB, Leonardo, Thales are amongst those participating at this 12 months’s event.
That is the primary major international aerospace event because the blowout last month, which pushed Boeing into one other safety crisis after the U.S. safety regulators ordered the temporary grounding of greater than 170 Boeing 737 Max 9 planes.
A door plug blew out midair on an Alaska Airlines flight shortly take off from Portland, Oregon on Jan. 5, an accident that didn’t seriously injure passengers onboard but left Boeing executives scuffling to win back the arrogance of airline customers, investors and regulators.
China’s homegrown competitor
China can be preparing to showcase and fly the C919 narrow-body business aircraft, developed by the Business Aircraft Corporation of China, or Comac.
It would be one of the vital anticipated aerial features on the biennial event, because it’s the primary time China will probably be flying its homegrown plane for a global audience.
At the same time as the aircraft is barely certified by Chinese authorities, industry experts have said it may very well be an early competitor to the business aviation duopoly between Boeing and Airbus.
“The industry contacts we speak to imagine the issues at Boeing, specifically the 737 Max, present an early opportunity for Comac,” Northcoast Research analyst Chris Olin told CNBC.
Based on Olin, the C919 may eventually bite into Boeing’s Max market share, but noted “the C919 impact is prone to be muted over the following couple years with aircraft production expected to be limited to 75-100 jets per 12 months.”
Not all bleak for the 12 months
At the same time as the Max crisis and provide chain disruptions loom large within the industry, analysts expect the impact on Boeing to last just for the short term.
“On orders, 2023 was the very best order 12 months on record for Boeing business airplanes and was particularly strong into December,” said Myles Walton, managing director at Wolfe Research, highlighting that like Airbus, Boeing is anticipated to see higher deliveries 12 months over 12 months.
“Given Boeing’s lower starting level in 2023, their delivery growth rate for 2024 is prone to be higher, though the quantum of growth could be more similar,” Walton said.
— CNBC’s Leslie Josephs contributed to this story
