Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Richnorth who wrote (78735)	10/22/2001 12:04:50 PM
From: Richnorth	Respond to of 116921

Air travel slump may drag on for 3 years: Boeing The aicraft manufacturer, which is axing up to 30,000 jobs, warns of morelayoffs if production continues to drop SEATTLE - Boeing has warned that air travel could drop for two or three years after the Sept 11 attacks, an unprecedented decline that will force the company to redouble cost-cutting. Airline traffic dropped 3 per cent as a result of the Gulf War and recession in 1991, at the time the first annual decline ever, and rose 1 per cent in the following year, according to the International Civil Aviation Organisation. But Mr Alan Mulally, head of Boeing's jetliner unit, said the latest decline will be more severe because the hijackings both hurt confidence in aviation and slowed the economy. Even as Boeing moves to halve production by the middle of next year, it still has more airplanes than airlines want as they ground 20 per cent of their fleets. 'We're sitting here with the equivalent of one to two years of new airplanes that are not needed,' he said. 'So how's it going? It's not good. This is a terrible situation. But we've got to deal with this.' Boeing, the biggest planemaker, may step up a consolidation of factories around the Puget Sound region, he said. Managers may re-examine the possibility of closing a plant where Boeing builds single-aisle jetliners in Renton, south of Seattle, and move production north to a plant in Everett that produces twin-aisle aircraft. Boeing said last Thursday that third-quarter profit rose 6.7 per cent, although it also cut its forecast for airliner deliveries next year to as few as 350 from 522 this year. The Chicago-based company is cutting 20,000 to 30,000 jobs, and chairman Phil Condit said more may have to be cut if production slips below expectations. 'We're going to see negative - not only slowing down, but also negative - travel growth probably for the next two or three years,' Mr Mulally said. 'And history says it could take two years for travel to return to the same level it was before the event.' Separately, British Airways (BA) chief executive Rod Eddington said the airline is in merger talks with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines as European airlines strive to cut costs to offset slumping sales. 'European aviation has to consolidate,' he said in an interview with British Broadcasting Corp's Breakfast with Frost programme. 'By the time it's finished, there'll probably be three, rather than 15, major international carriers in Europe.' He said BA, Lufthansa and Air France are likely to dominate the European industry once consolidation is completed. --Bloomberg News