Boeing says airline requests for delivery changes at historic lows

Boeing said Wednesday that airline requests to change delivery dates of aircraft remained "well below historical average," a sign that low fuel prices have not significantly altered the outlook for the market. Boeing also began building its 787 Dreamliner at the rate of 12 a month and plans to deliver planes at that rate by midyear, CE Dennis Muilenburg said. Requests to defer, accelerate and cancel aircraft deliveries were about 1% of the company's total backlog in the latest quarter, compared with an average of 6% over the past 15 years. Muilenburg’s comments came as low fuel prices have caused retirements of older aircraft to slow and raised concern that the aircraft business cycle is slowing. Despite a slowdown in orders, Boeing expects new orders to roughly equal its forecast of 740 to 745 jetliner deliveries this year. <br/>