Boeing downplays 777X cancellation risk despite new delay

Boeing said customers for its much delayed 777X jet are standing by orders for the wide-body model even after it was revealed that the program has slipped five years behind schedule. While Boeing has held talks to update buyers, feedback so far has stopped short of moves to walk away from the 777X, Darren Hulst, the manufacturer’s vice president for commercial marketing, said Tuesday. “Each one of our discussions with customers, obviously, is between us, but I haven’t heard of any specific desire to cancel,” Hulst said. That’s partly because many customers are buying the 777X in preparation for fleet-renewal programs that will become more pressing later in the decade, he said. Hulst, speaking after some jet lessors suggested the 777X’s future is in doubt after Boeing last month postponed deliveries to 2025, said the plane remains the best fit at the top end of the wide-body segment, competing with the Airbus SE A350, as the 747 and A380 jumbos end production. “I don’t think it has has a peer in terms of the size, in terms of the payload it can carry, and it’s going to be a perfect replacement for airplanes as big as the A380,” he said on the fringes of the Airline Economics Growth Frontiers conference in Dublin. Air Lease Corp. Chairman Steven Udvar-Hazy said Monday that issues with Boeing widebodies, including a production halt afflicting the smaller 787 Dreamliner, have become a major annoyance.<br/>