Boeing chief in Japan to save industry
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Ray Conner, the president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, has made a personal visit to Japan to preserve the relationship the company has with the country’s aviation industry.
Japanese companies currently own almost half the global Dreamliner fleet – a statistic that places them in a worrying position as far as Boeing is concerned.
Conner was onboard the Japanese carrier ANA’s first commercial Dreamliner flight on Sunday – the first time the plane has been allowed off the tarmac since January.
The US newswire service Bloomberg has reported that by going to Japan, Conner is returning to his roots in sales – helping to buff the company’s image in the eyes of some of its key stakeholders.
Speaking to Geoff Tudor, an analyst at Japan Aviation Management Research – and former Japan Airlines (JAL) employee – he commented that the relationship with Japan is key to Boeing’s future.
“If there’s any country they need to go to support the 787, it’s Japan. The relationship between ANA and JAL and Boeing runs deep. Boeing is very conscious of the fact that Japan has been a huge customer of their airplanes since the mid-’60s.”
The appearance of Conner in Japan is a major sign of the appreciation and dedication Boeing has to the Japanese market. And, while ANA wasn’t the first airline to have a Dreamliner fly commercially, it was the first to be joined by the chief of Boeing. The first commercial flight was the weekend’s celebratory Ethiopian Airlines departure, which was joined by Boeing’s vice president of marketing, Randy Tinseth.