7E7 Watch
New Boeing CEO backs 7E7 program

By Seattle Times Business staff

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New Boeing CEO Harry Stonecipher yesterday denied reports that he had been skeptical of funding the proposed next-generation plane during Boeing board meetings earlier this year. Rather, Stonecipher said, he plans to visit Boeing commercial-airplanes chief Alan Mulally to go over the plane's business plan, and be at Mulally's side in asking the board to authorize it in two weeks.

In an interview with CNBC, Stonecipher said, "This airplane can be a game changer."

But he stopped short of predicting whether the board would approve the plane.

"We are ... looking forward to going forward with the airplane," he told analysts and reporters. "I have been a proponent of it all along and continue to be so."

Stonecipher also said nothing yesterday that would give clues to where Boeing would assemble the 7E7 if it goes ahead, and that the decision might have to wait until later.

Boeing has been saying since the summer that it plans to settle on a 7E7 assembly location by the end of the year.

But in his last briefing, Boeing 7E7 program leader Mike Bair indicated the decision might have to wait until next year.

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