Toby Bright

So an awkward question first. What has happened to the innovative SonicCruiser, a faster but subsonic aircraft that captured the imagination of Emirates Airline some 18 months ago?

'We are still pushing ahead with development work on the SonicCruiser,' says Mr. Bright, a lifelong Boeing staffer and aerospace engineering graduate. 'But the issue now is the value of speed. How much extra will a passenger pay? And what value is that to the airlines?'

These are tough questions too, and Mr. Bright notes that it is always difficult to decide on the specification of a new aircraft. And he is the first to admit that the events of September 11th had a revolutionary impact on the aircraft industry.

'Since September 11th our industry has been in crisis and everyone has been much more focused on getting costs down than new aircraft like the SonicCruiser.'

The impact on aircraft orders at Boeing has been dramatic. This year Boeing will deliver 380 aircraft, but that number is set to fall to 275-285 next year.

'We now expect 2004 deliveries to be about the same level as 2003,' says Mr. Bright. 'Passenger recovery is slower than we expected and we have pushed recovery back a year in our projections.'

At an earlier press conference, one journalist asked what the impact of a war in Iraq would have on orders, and whether this would take Boeing back to Gulf War production levels.

'We are already below Gulf War production levels,' admitted Mr. Bright. 'Our production capacity has halved since last year. We have had to cut capacity quickly because it is obviously not a good idea for us to product unwanted aircraft. Our customer base is worldwide and it comes down to demand for seats in the market place.'

And what of the letter of intent to buy 25 aircraft signed with Emirates Airline over a year ago. Why has this not been finalized yet?

'We hope to have the deal finalized in the first quarter of 2003,' he says. 'The market has changed with a greater emphasis on routes to the east and Emirates has to determine which model of the 777 would now suit them best.'

On the likely impact of a war in the Middle East, Mr. Bright is openly pessimistic. 'It could push several of our good customers over the edge in terms of solvency,' he notes, 'As I said earlier factors like this make it very difficult to determine future demand levels and on our future projections we deliberately leave the outlook somewhat foggy.'

Clearly these are difficult times for Boeing in general and commercial airplane sales in particular. Mr. Bright's job is not an enviable one right now.