From the Associated Press:
Say this seven times really fast: Boeing Co. on Friday delivered its 777th 777.
The aerospace company turned over the new 777-300ER jetliner to longtime customer Air France, which operates one of the larger fleets of the widebody twinjet in the world.
So far, Boeing says, 56 customers have ordered more than 1,100 777s. Boeing launched the airplane program in 1990, with the first plane entering service in June 1995.
Air France has taken delivery of 40 777s out of 59 it has ordered.
The following is from European-based aviation analyst Saj Ahmad of FleetBuzz Editorial.com:
Boeing’s decision to adjust production from the middle of next year is hardly surprising. What will be of interest is what the company makes public in its first quarter earnings call on April 22 and how the company decides to manage key programs like the 747-8 and 787 Dreamliner — the latter of which should be in service by the time these production cuts kick in.
While production on the 747-400 line slows to an end (in terms of actual deliveries), the transition to the 747-8F and 747-8I means that the lack of production rate increases earmarked for late 2010/early 2011 allows Boeing to better match customer deliveries to the general state of the market . With the bulk of all 747-8 family orders for the freighter model, the collapse of the cargo segment means that until a meaningful rebound in traffic occurs, keeping production floating at less than two airplanes a month is probably better than customers cancelling their orders altogether.
At present, no cancellations on the 747-8 family have occured and its not entirely out of the realm that some customers may have already negotiated deferrals farther out than 2010 or 2011.
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