Boeing looks at pricey titanium in bid to stem 787 losses

Sounds very odd. It's like a jewellery company saying "The platinum wedding ring you ordered for ¥70,000 is going to lose us money, because platinum's so expensive at the moment. So we're going to use tin instead. Okay?"

Surely a deal's a deal.

Charge more?

The LemonLiner is back with a vengeance...

i don't know why, but i've always rooted for the dreamliner's success. it's revolutionary use of materials and batteries piqued my interest from the start.

Well, you have to give it to Boeing that they were very very bold in almost every aspect of this plane. But somehow such gambling shouldn't be done especially in this industry. Progress via small (and less risky) steps would have been ideal, (just my opinion).

Airbus has had great success building on existing technology, just making things like the a380. Big, yes, but still an old technology aircraft. Boeing went for broke, pushing ahead the technology in so many ways.

They're going to make money on the 787, it's just going to take a bit longer than originally planned. Later production will have a better looking balance sheet, and maintenance and parts will bring in more money.

Oh, I would say that the A380 is also very revolutionary in design (but indeed, uses less composites than Boeing). It's not just a scaled up version of some older plane, but a completely new design. The only thing having in common (and what's basically constant along the entire Airbus lineup) is the cockpit and controls design. This greatly helped training new pilots...

@ebisen

But somehow such gambling shouldn't be done especially in this industry.

Agreed. Two companies with good evolutionary approaches to design: Porsche (very incremental tweaks to the 911) and Intel (their tick-tock die shrink and optimization strategy for CPUs). This is how big, mature industries and business should operate IMO. It might seem conservative, but it's more reliable.....and passenger airliners, possibly more than any other product in the world, absolutely need to be risk-adverse and reliable.

LemonLiner indeed, looks like Boeing is going down the road of GM. get the sale, even if it means you lose money of each unit. After all Boeing is too big to fail and will be bailed out by the taxpayer should it run into financial trouble. You cant lose really

Too bad they aren't Airbus. They don't have to start paying back loans until a plane is profitable. If it's never profitable...well...

" Boeing Co, which loses about $23 million on every 787 Dreamliner passenger jet that leaves the factory "

Isn´t that called dumping? They should charge what the thing actually costs to make, and if the market does not bear that, stop producing it. Sheesh!

Isn´t that called dumping? They should charge what the thing actually costs to make, and if the market does not bear that, stop producing it. Sheesh!

Maybe they make their money in after-sale service etc.

Boeing will be fine; they'll eventually reach profitability as production streamlines. May just take longer than expected. At least they're getting orders; it'd be worse if they're not getting orders like the 380.

Boeing might become the Government Motors of the aircraft industry. Putting everything high-tech they could think of on their planes, whether the technology was proven or not, was probably a bad idea.

Lostrune, comparing pears and watermelons here. Nevertheless, check your facts, Airbus has orders two times over what they've delivered on the 380. Middle east companies are getting them by the dozens... Smaller, bankrupt companies(including the bankrupt Skymark) have cancelled, true, what would they do with such a plane?

ebisen the 380 has not been a succesful airplane: http://aviationweek.com/awin/airbus-mulls-a380-cut-a350-nears-flight-tests http://www.businessinsider.com/airbuss-flagship-plane-may-be-too-big-to-be-profitable-2014-12?IR=T

so you need to check your facts.

dont worry Airbus and Boeing both get huge tax cuts and subsidies from there governments. but selling a plane for a 23million loss just to get a sale is stupid. as WilliB its a kind of dumping which is illegal isnt it? but hey when your too big to fail its easy to take chances