EVERETT — A third party is reportedly pitching Emirates Airlines on a deal that would extend the life of Boeing’s 747-8 program while undermining an upgraded Airbus’ A380.
Informal talks around orders for 100 747-8s are going on with Emirates’ chairman, Sheik Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, and not the airline’s president, Tim Clark, writes Scott Hamilton, an aerospace analyst and owner of Issaquah-based Leeham Co.
A Boeing spokesman said the company is not behind the pitch.
The company “does not comment on discussions with its customers. However, we would like to clarify that Boeing is not pitching 100 747-8s to Emirates,” Boeing spokesman Paul Bergman said in an email. “We are in constant dialogue with our customers and aim to respond with market-leading and proven products and capabilities,”
There is lackluster demand for Boeing’s 747-8. The U.S. Air Force did recently pick the airplane to replace Air Force One, but industry analysts agree that the airplane’s production line likely won’t survive long after that delivery in 2018.
The company plans to cut production from 1.5 to 1.3 airplanes a month in September.
Hamilton calls the pitch a “Hail Mary that would save the program, kill the A380, help GE” (which makes the engines for the 747-8) and would hamper GE’s competitor, Rolls Royce, which makes the engines for the A380.
Dan Catchpole: 425-339-3454; dcatchpole@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @dcatchpole.
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