Boeing sticks with 747 output

Boeing said on Friday it is sticking to current production plans for its 747 jumbo jet despite a cancelled order that left no net new orders for the plane in 20 months.
Nippon Cargo Airlines cancelled orders for four 747 freighters on September 1, Boeing said, leaving no net new orders from this year or last. Boeing now has just 25 firm 747 orders, equal to about two years of production, for the $379 million jumbo.
The cancellation will have "no impact on production rates," Boeing spokesman Doug Alder said.
The slump in sales of very large aircraft has raised questions about how long Boeing and European rival Airbus Group can keep building double-decker planes, with 2015 a make-or-break year for both.
Airbus' competing A380 has booked no orders since 2014 from commercial airlines and has 148 orders in backlog. Airbus is considering upgrading the 10-year-old plane's engines to stimulate sales.
If the sales slump continues, Boeing could face the prospect of taking an accounting charge of $1 billion or more on the 747-8 programme, said Myles Walton, an analyst at Deutsche Bank. It was unclear how long Boeing could go without an order before triggering such an action.
The 747 does have some sales prospects. Boeing won a commitment in June for 20 747s from Russian cargo airline Volga-Dnepr Group. The US Air Force also agreed to buy an unspecified number of 747s for the Air Force One presidential fleet, which currently has two planes. Neither commitment has been converted to a firm order.
Commercial spacecraft named
Meanwhile, Boeing's commercial spacecraft CST-100, currently under development as part of Nasa's Commercial Crew Programme to provide transportation to and from the International Space Station, has officially been named Starliner, the company said.
Boeing made the announcement late on Friday during the opening of the company's commercial crew and cargo processing Facility at Nasa's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, where the Starliner will be assembled, Xinhua news agency reported.