Branson blasts Boeing on delays, strike

[A Guy Called Tyketto]

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... and threatens to take his business elsewhere.

http://tinyurl.com/cs46mc

Branson does have a couple of arguable points. The strike at
Boeing definitely hindered VIR's plans with the B787, but it also made
the situation worse with VOZ and their B773 order, which they placed in
March 2007. The first one was to have been delivered in December, for
their inaugural run from SYD-LAX to compete with QFA and UAL. That got
pushed back by 2 months, which completely killed his plans for the
introductory $185 base fare he had promoted back in October 2008.
Whether those tickets for the December flight will be honoured is a
good question. Customers by then may have said forget it and flew QFA
or UAL.

I see a cascade effect here. Branson has pretty much said what
others have kept quiet with regards to delayed deliveries from the
strike. ANA certainly isn't happy, and if Boeing doesn't get things
together (which they have a chance to), Airbus is waiting, and
depending on the capacity of the VOZ routes, Embraer can easily slot
the E190 in where the B737 could be used.

With Airbus opening up shop in China and possibly Tunisia, if
Boeing doesn't get their act together and chop some time off that 2
year delay, could we see other carriers taking their business to
Boeing's competition, especially if they have full aircraft assembly
lines set up in multiple countries? IIRC, outside of the parts being
outsourced, Boeing is only assembling their jets at PAE.

BL.
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[JF Mezei]

Post by A Guy Called Tyketto
Branson does have a couple of arguable points. The strike at
Boeing definitely hindered VIR's plans with the B787, but it also made
the situation worse with VOZ and their B773 order, which they placed in
March 2007.

When Boeing announced it was restarting assembly of 787s, I would think
that Boeing may have finally worked through the infamous fastener
problem and might actually be able to start moving forwards again.

If that is the case, it means that Boeing will soon have a good idea of
when it can really start production and at what rate. And that means
that airlines will now start to jockey for delivery slots and/or
compensation.

By taking delivery of the first 777, it pretty much committed V to that
model. But depending on what Virgin could negotiate for the 787, it
might be "forced" to go with the 350 if other Boeing customers outmuscle
Virgin for early delivery slots.

S7 has already managed to move itself ahead by cancelling its order and
using orders that a lessor had placed.

And if Boeing now starts to get trustable delivery schedules, it means
that airlines will be negotiating penalties/deliveries at a time when
the 350 is still vapourware. And that makes it that much harder for
airlines to cancel 787 orders in order to go for an even more uncertain
350 delivery schedule.

However, if there is a new glitch that delays the 787, things may get
serious with regards to some airlines re-evaluating their choices.

And remember that for every manor order cancellation Boeing might/will
get, it frees up slots which make it possible for Boeing to better
accomodate the remaining customers.

So if Virgin were to cancel its 15 orders of 787, I am not sure it would
start a trend because the remaining customers would benefit and their
delivery delays would be reduced.
.
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