Boeing Increases Market Share Aerospace Giant Captured Nearly 70 Percent Of Market Last Year

Despite a 69-day strike by production workers, 1995 was a very good year for Boeing Co.

The company said Thursday it captured a commanding 69.7 percent of the market share for new commercial jets last year, logging orders for 346 planes valued at more than $31 billion. The orders include 85 Boeing planes from nine customers that had not been previously announced or that were announced as intentions to order.

“I’m really excited about where we are and being here to tell you about it,” Ron Woodard, Boeing Commercial Airplane Group president, told reporters at the company’s Renton facility.

Boeing’s 1995 market share, based on dollar value and the industry’s net new orders, is above Boeing’s historic market average of about 60 percent.

In 1995, chief competitors Airbus Industrie and McDonnell Douglas accounted for 14.8 percent and 9.9 percent, respectively, Boeing said.

Airbus said Wednesday that total orders for its jets fell 15 percent last year, to 106, although revenue rose to a record $9.6 billion because the proportion of very large aircraft ordered was greater than in the past.

By comparison, the industry total for orders in 1994 was $18.8 billion, the worst in the past 10 years, Boeing said.

Boeing and industry analysts attributed Boeing’s success to the popularity of its newest planes, the latest 737 series and the 777.

The 777 has captured 230 orders, representing about 80 percent of all orders for airplanes its size, since it was launched in October 1990. Ninety-two of the new-generation widebody jets were ordered in 1995, all by foreign customers.

“No matter how you cut it, there’s no question they had a good year,” said Bill Whitlow of Pacific Crest Securities. “The fact that the 777 is well-positioned to capture a significant portion of the target market in the Far East is a big piece of that.”

The 737-600, -700 and -800 have accounted for 220 orders since November 1993, when the newest series of the world’s most poplar jetliner became available. Orders for 176 737s were announced in 1995.

Woodard noted that foreign customers accounted for 88 percent of Boeing’s $31.23 billion worth of orders last year.

Asia, third behind North America and Europe in the 1980s, will become the No. 1 airplane customer for the next two decades, Woodard said.

Boeing projects that growth, particularly in Asia, will create a demand in the next 20 years for $780 billion worth of airplanes, or about 10,000 planes. Boeing’s goal is to maintain two-thirds of the market share over that period.

“We have to have a substantial market share because we are going after a finite market,” Woodard said.

He said the company’s targets for new orders in 1996 are higher than for 1995, but would not give specific figures.

On other matters, Woodard said:

The company continues to work with airlines on rescheduling deliveries that were delayed by the 69-day strike by the Machinists union, Boeing’s largest bargaining group.

Boeing delivered 206 jets in 1995 - 29 fewer than it had expected before the strike. Woodard said it will be 15 months before the company is back on schedule.

Production and employment rates should stabilize over the next few years. Although U.S. carriers are coming out of a funk, no flood of orders is expected from domestic airlines this year, he said.

Boeing and a group of customers continue to explore development of two new versions of the 747 jumbo jet, but no decision is expected this year.