RENTON, WASH. — Despite a flurry of orders at the end of the year, Boeing Co. netted just 312 orders for new commercial jets in 2001, nearly half as many as the year before and fewer than the preliminary number announced by archrival Airbus Industrie.
Orders were harder to come by with the world's airlines suffering from an economic downturn and drastically curtailed travel after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In 2000, Boeing tallied 608 orders for jetliners.
Boeing said Wednesday that it received 335 new orders last year, but customers changed 63 existing orders.
Before the slump, Boeing had hoped to receive about 400 orders for the year. About 80 percent of the 2001 orders will be delivered in the next three years.
"Our business plan is to support our customers with their needed airplanes and services through this economic cycle," said Alan Mulally, president and chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
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