Aircraft manufacturer Boeing said Tuesday it expects to see increasing orders for its new 787 Dreamliner aircraft, despite a recent China Eastern Airlines cancellation order for the new model.
"Frankly as we look forward, we expect to see the Dreamliner order base increase, we expect to see more orders, we expect to see more cancellations, especially as we go through mitigation with our customers," Boeing marketing vice president Randy Tinseth said Tuesday at a briefing in Seoul, commenting that Chicago-based Boeing would continue to increase its monthly Dreamliner production from two aircraft to ten by the end of 2013.
The statement came a day after China Eastern filed with the Hong Kong stock exchange saying it was abandoning plans to buy 24 Dreamliner 787s, the Boeing aircraft model that after repeated delays is currently three years behind production schedule.
China Eastern will instead buy 45 of Boeing's smaller 737 planes, though the airline also announced it will purchase 15 of competitor Airbus' A330s - a direct rival to the Dreamliner model.
"We're still working very closely with the Chinese government and our other customers in China," a Boeing spokesperson told Xinhua when asked if the Dreamliner cancellations would affect the company's plans for China.
"We understand that there's always this ebb and flow in the market where airlines will need to come up with a different business model, and we're always working with them to find solutions that best meet their individual needs," he continued, adding that China was one of the best-growing markets for the aircraft industry and Boeing planned to have strong presence there.
The 185-million-U.S.-dollar 787 Dreamliner is made of composite materials and designed to be more fuel-efficient. Though the Dreamliner staged its first official flight in December 2009, it was only last month when the first of the more than 800 placed delivery orders was finally made to All Nippon Airways in Japan.
