BEIJING—Boeing Co. is engaged in "very advanced discussions" with Chinese airlines to revitalize sales there of its 787 Dreamliner, according to a senior sales executive, as the U.S. plane maker competes with rival Airbus for a greater share of the growing market.
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Chicago-based Boeing currently has orders for 60 Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets from China Southern Airlines Co. and other Chinese customers. Those orders came in 2005, and Boeing hasn't received any additional orders since.
In an interview on the sidelines of Aviation Expo, an air exhibition that kicked off in Beijing on Wednesday, Boeing's top sales executive for China said that may change.
"On the 787, we are in constant discussions with airlines in China. Demand is very high," said Ihssane Mounir, the sales executive. "We do have some very advanced discussions that could lead to more orders soon."
Boeing's future in part hinges on the high-profile 787 jetliner, which the company says will be more fuel-efficient and cheaper to maintain than other long-haul jets. But the plane's rollout has been beset by delays. Boeing is scheduled to deliver the first 787 Dreamliner to Japan's All Nippon Airways Co. later this month. That would put it more than three years behind schedule.
Boeing officials say the company needs to win more orders in China, one of the fastest-growing commercial aircraft markets, where competition from Airbus is becoming stiffer. Airbus's China president, Laurence Barron, said in a separate interview Wednesday that it expects to account for a 50% share of China's commercial-jet market by 2013. Also speaking on the sidelines of Aviation Expo, Mr. Barron said he expects Airbus's market share in China to be 47% by the end of this year. Airbus is a unit of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co.
Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing for Boeing's commercial-aircraft division, said earlier this month that the company aims at least to maintain its slightly higher than 50% share of China's market of commercial airliners in service. But he acknowledged that Boeing's share of new orders from China in recent years has been declining, in part because of competition from Airbus.
Earlier this month, Boeing raised its 20-year forecast for China's spending on commercial aircraft by 25%, citing planned international expansion by airlines in what the company expects will become the world's second-biggest aircraft market after the U.S. In that forecast, Boeing said it expects Chinese carriers and others to spend $600 billion for 5,000 new commercial airplanes from Boeing, Airbus and other manufacturers. Boeing last year estimated that China would spend $480 billion on 4,330 planes over the next 20 years.
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