Boeing Aircraft company

Boeing Aircraft company

Introduction

Boeing has proven to be a successful company above all the rest. The have established solid mission statements, and mere flawless code of conduct. Boeing is revolutionizing the market of airlines and also in the internet realm. Boeing has enabled the business world with a positive role model to follow when dealing wit employees. (Greider, 2007)

Overview of the airline or company

The history of Boeing may be divided into two distinct periods namely the piston era and the jet age. Throughout the piston era, Boeing was essentially a military contractor producing fighter aircraft in the 1920's and 1930's and bombers during World War II. During the jet age, beginning in the 1950's, Boeing had become the world's largest manufacturer of commercial aircraft, deriving most of its revenues from selling jetliners. Boeing's first jet was the 707.

The introduction of the 707 in 1958 represented a major breakthrough in the history of commercial aviation; it allowed Boeing to gain a critical technological lead ever the Douglas Aircraft Company, its closer competitor. To benefit from government assistance in developing the 707, Boeing produced the first jet in two versions: a military tanker for the Air Force (k-135) and a commercial aircraft for the airlines (707-120). The company, however, did not recoup its own investment until 1964, six years after it delivered the first 707, and the twelve years after it, has launched the program. In the end, the 707 was quite profitable, selling 25 percent above its average cost. Boeing retained the essential design of the 707 for all its subsequent narrow body single-aisle models (the 727, 737, and 757), introducing incremental design improvements, one at a time. (Greider, 2007)

First, as Boeing increased its reliance on outsourcing, six major subcontractors fabricated 70 percent of the value of the 747 airplane, thereby helping Boeing reduce the project's risks. Second, for the first time, Boeing applied the family concept in aircraft design to a wide-body jet, building the 747 with wings large enough to support a stretched fuselage with bigger engines, and offering as variety of other modifications in the 747's basic design. The 747-400 is a case in the point. (Norris, 2001)

In 1997, Boeing sold the stretched and upgraded 747-400 in three versions, a standard jet, a freighter, and a "combi" (a jetliner whose main cabin was divided between passenger and cargo compartments). Boeing developed other successful models. In 1969, Boeing introduced the 737, the company's narrow-body flagship, and in 1982 Boeing put into service two additional jetliners, the 757 and the 767. By the early 1990's, the 737, 757, and 767 were all selling profitably. Following the introduction of the 777 in 1995, Boeing's families of planes included the 737 for short-range travel, the 757 and 767 for medium to long range travel. In addition to building jetliners, Boeing also expanded its defense, space and information businesses. In 1997, the Boeing Company took a strategic gamble, buying the McDonnell Douglas Company in $14 billion stock ...