The Plane Truth: Business Is Booming

The world's biggest aircraft and engine manufacturers are filling their order books, despite the continuing economic crises in Asia and Russia. The recent Farnborough (England) Air Show, a major marketing and sales event, proved particularly successful for Boeing Co., Airbus Industrie, Rolls-Royce PLC, General Electric Co., and Embraer Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA. It also featured a flash of executive candor from Boeing President and COO Harry Stonecipher. Boeing has been battling production problems for a year, and Stonecipher said delivery schedules had slipped because the company has been "too arrogant, too inattentive and too self-satisfied."