Published: Tuesday, October 1, 2013, 6:20 p.m.<\/p>\n
The highlight of the first day was an unusual panel of three executives of publicly traded aerospace companies that represented every stage of the commercial jetliner market: supplier, airplane builder and airline. <\/p>\n
The executives were Pat Shanahan, a senior vice president and general manager of airplane programs for Renton-based Boeing Commercial Airplanes; Brad Tilden, CEO of Alaska Air Group, which owns Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air; and Olivier Zarrouati, CEO and chairman of Zodiac Aerospace. <\/p>\n
Many of Shanahan's remarks were, of course, about the billion-dollar question of where Boeing will build the 777X. More on that here. <\/p>\n
Shanahan also spoke to the state of the industry (\"It's an incredible market right now\") and waxed philosophical about the implications of the complexity of building airplanes. <\/p>\n
Like trees planted by Federal Way-based Weyerhaeuser Co., Shanahan said, \"aerospace is a renewable industry,\" the products of which are built to last 40 or 50 years. <\/p>\n
\"Looks can be deceiving,\" he said. \"Right now things are going great. <\/p>\n
\"But I'm thinking about the business I need to do now\" to ensure airplanes are delivered and revenue is collected five and 10 years later -- the time between an airline's initial interest and a plane's delivery. <\/p>\n
Plaisir, France-based Zodiac Aerospace supplies companies like Boeing with assemblies, components and parts, including airplane interiors, seats and evacuation systems. Zodiac employs 26,000 people worldwide -- 2,000 of them in Washington. Zarrouati agreed that managing aerospace companies requires insight. <\/p>\n
\"It's a very forward-looking industry,\" Zarrouati said. \"A lot of us are not going to be there,\" years from now, \"to face the decisions that we make today.\" <\/p>\n
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Execs discuss the state of aerospace<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Published: Tuesday, October 1, 2013, 6:20 p.m. Continue reading