Boeing collects more 787 orders
Boeing Co. on Monday added nearly a dozen orders for its new 787 Dreamliner, the fuel-efficient passenger jet scheduled to make its first flight later this year.
The deals sent Boeing’s stock price higher and widened the Chicago-based planemaker’s lead over European rival Airbus, whose competing A350 widebody is five years behind the 787.
Boeing confirmed 11 new orders for 787s on Monday: five jets from Houston-based Continental Airlines Inc., and six from ALAFCO Aviation Lease and Finance Co. of Kuwait.
Customers have now ordered 475 of the fuel-efficient Dreamliners from Boeing, which builds its commercial airplanes in the Seattle area.
The long-range, mid-sized 787 is designed to burn 20 percent less fuel than comparable airplanes by using more lightweight composites. Its first flight is scheduled for August, and the jet is expected to enter commercial service in 2008.
Teal Group analyst Richard Aboulafia said the growing order list confirms the 787 as “the most successful widebody launch in the history of the industry.”
•Starbucks Corp. expanded its push into the entertainment business Monday, launching a record label with the same brand — Hear Music — stamped on the compilation CDs it sells in coffeehouses.
The Seattle-based coffee giant said it was partnering with Concord Music Group to launch the record label, based on the two companies’ existing deal to release albums under the Hear Music brand.
Starbucks said the new Los Angeles-based label will work with established artists along with seeking to develop new artists. In a statement, the companies said the label will “advocate creative control for artists and encourages musicians to stretch and take risks.”
•Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has launched an online database for its thousands of suppliers to help them meet targets for cutting packaging waste starting next year, one of a series of green efforts by the world’s largest retailer.
Wal-Mart executives said Monday the “packaging scorecard” will help suppliers calculate the net environmental effect of a mix of factors, including the fuel needed to make and transport packaging materials and whether they use recycled components or not.
The upshot is a single number that gives the supplier a ranking against others making similar products, said Matt Kistler, vice president of marketing at Sam’s Club and the head of Wal-Mart’s packaging reduction efforts.
Wal-Mart last year set a goal of cutting overall packaging by 5 percent by 2013.