$53 Billion in Orders Is a Record for Boeing

Boeing Co. had a record year in 1996, falling just short of its goal of controlling two-thirds of the world’s commercial airline market, the company said Tuesday.

Boeing ended 1996 with announced orders for 717 aircraft worth $53 billion. With cancellations and substitutions of previous orders, the company had a net new business gain of 559 planes worth $42.8 billion.

That’s the figure it used to calculate market share, which equaled 64% of the worldwide market for jets with more than 100 seats, said Ron Woodard, president of Boeing Commercial Airplane Group.

“We’re pleased with our 64%,” Woodard said. “We have a goal of two-thirds and we will continue to strive for that.”

The year was the best ever in terms of the dollar value of Boeing aircraft ordered, exceeding a previous record set in 1990, when airlines ordered 543 planes worth $47.7 billion.

A year ago, the company had just been through a 10-week strike by the Machinists union, and the airlines were only just beginning to recover from massive losses due to the global recession of the early 1990s. Boeing production was down to its lowest level in years, and the company had paid $600 million for 9,500 workers to take early retirement.

The unit record for announced orders was 887 planes in 1989. However, airlines have modified, delayed or canceled some of those orders. Furthermore, Boeing often receives orders that customers choose not to announce.

Boeing shares lost 12.5 cents to close at $106.125 on the New York Stock Exchange.

On Monday, Boeing’s archrival, Airbus Industrie, said that in 1996 it received 326 firm orders for commercial jets worth a total of $23.6 billion. Airbus said 25 orders were canceled last year.

Woodard said Boeing pegged Airbus’ net market share at 32.3%, or about $21.6 billion, while McDonnell Douglas, which Boeing agreed to acquire last month, had 3.3%, or $2.2 billion, and other manufacturers had 0.4%, or about $300 million.

Because of a healthy world economy, Boeing expects a slight rise in orders this year and continued strong demand for new planes through at least 1998.

To meet production, Boeing plans to increase production from the current 22.5 airplanes a month to 40 a month by the end of the year.