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ILFC CEO says Boeing, Airbus may have to cut production
* Renews call for planemakers to trim output By Kyle Peterson
CHICAGO, March 18 (Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) and Airbus (EAD.PA) may have to cut production by up to 35 percent by mid-2010 or risk having to finance jet sales themselves, the chief executive of the planemakers' biggest customer said on Wednesday.
"We would not be surprised if both Airbus and Boeing may have to cut production 20-35 percent by the middle of 2010," International Lease Finance Corp Chief Executive Steven Udvar-Hazy said in an email to Reuters.
His remarks renewed a call for the two companies to trim output before they face the full impact of the tightening credit market. ILFC is the biggest customer of Boeing and EADS subsidiary Airbus.
Boeing spokesman Bernard Choi repeated on Wednesday the company's view that it might have to trim production in 2010, but not in 2009.
"We are keeping production rates steady for 2009," he said. "At this point, we have not changed our production rate. We feel that financing for 2009 is holding up well."
An Airbus spokesman reiterated that it planned to deliver about the same number of aircraft in 2009 as in 2008, when it delivered 483 planes. The forecast combines both single-aisle and wide-body jets.
Airbus said last month that it would cut its single-aisle plane production to 34 from 36 a month from October.
Udvar-Hazy also told a conference in Arizona on Tuesday that the first examples of Boeing's 787 mid-sized long-range Dreamliner, which is delayed by about two years, would be overweight, according to Flight International (www.flightglobal.com).
Founded by Udvar-Hazy in 1973, ILFC is the world's largest plane lessor with a fleet of more than 1,000 jet aircraft.
He sold the business to U.S. insurer AIG (AIG.N) in 1990 but continued to run it, and his rare but occasionally forthright public comments are said to influence future plane designs.
AIG is in the process of selling ILFC to help repay the U.S. government for its recent massive financial bailout.
Moody's on Tuesday downgraded ILFC to Baa2 from Baa1 and assigned a negative outlook.
* Renews call for planemakers to trim output By Kyle Peterson
CHICAGO, March 18 (Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) and Airbus (EAD.PA) may have to cut production by up to 35 percent by mid-2010 or risk having to finance jet sales themselves, the chief executive of the planemakers' biggest customer said on Wednesday.
"We would not be surprised if both Airbus and Boeing may have to cut production 20-35 percent by the middle of 2010," International Lease Finance Corp Chief Executive Steven Udvar-Hazy said in an email to Reuters.
His remarks renewed a call for the two companies to trim output before they face the full impact of the tightening credit market. ILFC is the biggest customer of Boeing and EADS subsidiary Airbus.
Boeing spokesman Bernard Choi repeated on Wednesday the company's view that it might have to trim production in 2010, but not in 2009.
"We are keeping production rates steady for 2009," he said. "At this point, we have not changed our production rate. We feel that financing for 2009 is holding up well."
An Airbus spokesman reiterated that it planned to deliver about the same number of aircraft in 2009 as in 2008, when it delivered 483 planes. The forecast combines both single-aisle and wide-body jets.
Airbus said last month that it would cut its single-aisle plane production to 34 from 36 a month from October.
Udvar-Hazy also told a conference in Arizona on Tuesday that the first examples of Boeing's 787 mid-sized long-range Dreamliner, which is delayed by about two years, would be overweight, according to Flight International (www.flightglobal.com).
Founded by Udvar-Hazy in 1973, ILFC is the world's largest plane lessor with a fleet of more than 1,000 jet aircraft.
He sold the business to U.S. insurer AIG (AIG.N) in 1990 but continued to run it, and his rare but occasionally forthright public comments are said to influence future plane designs.
AIG is in the process of selling ILFC to help repay the U.S. government for its recent massive financial bailout.
Moody's on Tuesday downgraded ILFC to Baa2 from Baa1 and assigned a negative outlook.