Seattle ? Boeing Co.’s strategy of building a diverse aerospace company is on track despite a recent ethics scandal that led to an executive shake-up, the chief executive of Boeing’s commercial airplanes division told investors Tuesday.

“Clearly, we’ve had some issues that we’ve moved aggressively to deal with,” Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief Alan Mulally said Tuesday at an aerospace conference sponsored by Bear Stearns in New York.

But despite those woes, he said, “our strategy is on track.”

The Chicago-based aerospace giant has spent the past few years working on broad plans to become a more diverse company that is less dependent on its Seattle-based commercial airplanes division.

The shift has come as the company has grappled with a massive downturn in the airline industry, prompted by the weak economy, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and war with Iraq. On Tuesday, Mulally called the downturn “the deepest and longest cycle that we have experienced.”

In 2003, amid the weak market, rival Airbus surpassed Boeing on airplane deliveries for the first time. That same year, revenue for Boeing’s defense business surpassed its commercial business.a

Mulally, a Lawrence High School and Kansas University graduate, said in a speech broadcast over the Internet that the company expected to deliver about 285 airplanes this year and in 2005, just slightly more than in 2003. Revenue for the commercial division will be about $20 billion in 2004, he said, slightly below 2003 levels, and will be slightly higher than $20 billion in 2005.

Boeing expects to snag a launch customer for its planned new 7E7 airplane “sooner rather than later” this year, he said, adding that the airplane remained on schedule to fly in 2008.

Boeing is making a big bet on the 7E7, a 200-plus-passenger airplane designed to compete with Airbus’ A300 series and to replace Boeing’s older 757 and 767s. Boeing believes airlines will want smaller, more efficient jets that will get people to their destinations directly.

Boeing rival Airbus is betting on the 550-passenger A380, a massive jet designed to pack lots of customers onto flights between major hubs.

Boeing is facing a probe into possible ethical misconduct by former executives. The investigation has to do with whether Boeing improperly received pricing information about Airbus, to win a deal to lease and sell 100 jets to the Air Force for use as refueling tankers. The ethics scandal led to the firing of two top executives and the resignation of former chief executive Phil Condit.