Boeing CEO discusses Saudi Arabia’s aircraft requests and outlook for Middle East aviation market

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Boeing International CEO, Dr. Brandon Nelson, confirmed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an important customer for us, and it is also a partner in Boeing International, and we are fully committed to supporting it in order to achieve its ambitious 2030 vision in the field of aviation.

Dr. Brandon Nelson said in an exclusive interview with Al Arabiya.net that the Kingdom mainly focuses on the aircraft it requests on wide-body aircraft, that is, larger two-aisle aircraft such as the 777 and 787.

He stressed that “the new Riyadh Airlines has requested 72 various 787 aircraft, while Saudi Arabian Airlines has also requested 39 787 aircraft, in addition to other options of up to 10 additional aircraft, bringing the total number of aircraft from Saudi Arabia to 121 aircraft, with a total value of about 35.” billion dollars, and we will work to deliver these aircraft on time, overcoming with determination the supply challenges we face.”

He continued, “We are now competing with another company to win the Saudi Arabia contract to provide 737 slim-body aircraft for Saudi airlines,” indicating that negotiations on that contract are still ongoing and are confidential, and we are confident that this will be achieved due to the exceptional degree of reliability of our aircraft and the appropriate prices that we offer to the Kingdom. “.

He explained, “The issues of implementation and delivery of aircraft requested by Saudi companies on time are very important to us, but we do not seek rapid production at the expense of quality or safety. Rather, we are keen to ensure that supply chains match to meet the requirements of aircraft delivery to Saudi companies.”

Boeing Outlook for the Middle East

He said: “Our expectations for the Middle East for the next twenty years are that the region will need 3,000 new aircraft, and if we think about it, 8-hour air travel from any of the major airports in the East covers 80% of the world’s population, and 70% of the economic growth areas.” future in the next twenty years.

He added, “Since economic growth is estimated to be 2.7% annually for the next decade in the Gulf region, air travel will increase by 4% annually, which makes the Middle East region very important in the world and is a very important customer for Boeing.”

Chinese aircraft manufacturer

Regarding the Chinese aircraft manufacturing company, he said, “China is a great power and has re-emerged with a very strong economy, with a population of 1.4 billion people. We support China’s development and construction of its own aircraft. The COMAC C919 is a good and safe aircraft in our opinion, and perhaps by 2050 they control 10 % of the market. But when we think about how big the aviation market has become, it means that there is additional business for everyone, whether for Boeing or Comac and certainly our main competitor.”

He said: “Boeing has gone through great challenges in recent years with regard to accidents as well as the global pandemic, but our current situation is very strong after the demand for commercial aviation in particular rose to record levels with airlines renewing their fleets and with the significant increase in geopolitical environment investments globally.” in the field of defence.

$100 billion

And Aban stated, “We expect that our profits for the years 2025 and 2026 will reach approximately $100 billion, and we expect operating profits of 10%, and free cash flow in the years 2025 and 2026 of about $10 billion, and we will invest $3 billion of it in research and development.”

He pointed out that we at the company are doing everything we can to remove carbon emissions from our industry and sector to reach sustainable aviation, as the aviation sector contributes to 2.6% of global heating gas emissions, and about 12% of the transportation sector.

We are working to provide sustainable aviation fuels, electricity and hydrogen as well, and new technology that contributes to improving the efficiency of aircraft performance and the way airlines operate their aircraft, and to introduce new technology that helps remove carbon emissions completely. One of these core technologies is Whisk, the self-driving urban vehicle. We are in advanced stages of developing this aircraft, which will have the same safety standards as commercial aircraft, and we are working with regulators around the world to obtain certifications for it.

We are also working with the US Space Agency to develop aircraft wings that enable them to fly at near the speed of sound, along with engine technology from the engine manufacturers, and we are confident that it will result in high efficiency in air travel, a significant reduction in carbon emissions, and lower fuel consumption, and we will launch this aircraft In the mid-2030s. In addition to all of that, we have a lot of classified military capabilities work with the US Department of Defense.

And the challenges in general constitute the removal of carbon emissions from the aviation sector, and this is a top priority for Boeing, and in addition to that, there are challenges in supply chains, which we expect to continue until 2023 and 2024. In order to reduce supply chain challenges, we invest our resources to work with our suppliers, we also copy supply chains in some regions in response to the geopolitical consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and we introduce new technology to improve the efficiency of supply chains.

The other challenge that we face in general is the labor market. After we got out of the pandemic, we started to witness very narrow labor markets in many regions of the world, and hiring the people we need in order to meet the requirements of our customers has become a challenge for us, and undoubtedly we work in a complex environment. Very with the great energy transition that we are witnessing, and in some regions of the world we are facing a significant increase in energy prices, and with all this we ensure investment in research and technology in order to globalize our work to ensure that our company becomes a truly global company. In order to achieve this, we develop engineering capabilities outside the United States, invest in engineering centers, and we have 17 of them around the world now, as well as research and technology centers, as well as contributing to investing in countries that have large markets and localizing our business in those countries. These are some of the challenges we face.

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