Boeing Could Cut 10 Percent in 2010

(MoneyWatch)  Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Scott Carson says his company could trim production rates next year, but far less than what some observers are saying.

Speaking earlier this week at an investor conference carried on the Web, Carson said cuts could be in the 10 percent range for 2010. In all likelihood, they won't be nearly as great as those recently predicted by Steve Udvar-Hazy, the CEO of AIG subsidiary, International Lease Finance Corp., who recently said he expects Boeing and Airbus will slash production up to 35 percent by the end of 2010.

Confirming what Teal Group analyst Richard Aboulafia had told me this week, Carson said there's been "a lot of activity in terms of deferrals," but most airlines are asking for delays of only a "few fiscal periods." Given that, the company has been able to keep the production pipeline full by rescheduling the deliveries it missed during last fall's Machinist union strike.

Any decisions on 2010 production cuts are likely to come around May, Carson said.

One piece of good news for airlines -- Carson said Boeing's on track to deliver its first 787 Dreamliners in the first quarter of 2010. The first planes to launch customer All Nippon Airways will be about two years late, after a series of production snafus on the revolutionary new airplane.