波音与中国：明确方向 谋划全局
令我感到幸运的是，在过去17年里，我在波音的工作一直和中国密切相关。波音与中国携手合作了35年，17年几乎是这个历程一半的时间。前不久，一个令人兴奋的机会让我作为波音民用飞机集团的代表，再次回到北京工作。
回到北京，我不由得思索起波音和中国间特殊的联系以及双方的合作前景。最新的数字可以给我们一些提示：
·如今，我们在中国的航空公司客户运营着近650架波音飞机，大约占中国机队的60％。放眼未来，我们预测中国在20年内将需要2880架新飞机，成为波音在美国本土外最大的市场。我们深信我们贴近市场需求的产品与服务组合将确保我们满足客户的需要，并保持我们市场领袖的地位。
·中国成为波音最大的客户之一，与此同时，波音也是中国航空制造业最大的海外客户。20世纪80年代以来，波音从中国购买了价值超过7.3亿美元的航空硬件。所有的波音机型上都有中国供应商伙伴生产的零部件，包括737、747、767和最新的787梦想飞机。在世界各地飞行的4200架波音飞机使用了中国制造的零部件和组件。未来，波音和中国间的有效合同价值已超过16亿美元，更加证明中国在全球航空业中扮演着日益显著的角色。
而数字还不能说明全部。波音网站上最近发布了波音2006年的年报，标题为“明确方向 谋划全局”（详情见波音网站www.boeing.com）。这是我们对所有波音员工在日常工作中展现领导力的一项期望。同时我认为也可以用它来诠释波音和中国未来的关系。将中国庞大的市场和出色的制造能力，与波音90年的民用航空业经验结合起来，无疑将有助于我们双方共同打造全球航空业的美好未来。
我们再来看一些实例：中国不仅是波音787梦想飞机的启动用户，还是该飞机项目的重要供应商伙伴。今年晚些时候，787即将进行首飞。这款成功的飞机将为乘客带来舒适的飞行体验，帮助航空公司大大削减成本，并将在中国和世界各地之间开通新的点对点航班。上海波音航空改装维修工程公司的建立使波音扩展了维修、保养及大修业务，而位于厦门太古的747-400货机改装项目也标志着中国在波音货机改装业务中的领先地位，这些都为波音与中国进一步发展携手合作的关系开辟了新的空间。
作为中国航空业的合作伙伴，波音深感荣幸。我们将抓住这一机会，与中国携手“明确方向，谋划全局”！
Boeing and China: Charting the Course
I have been lucky enough to spend the past 17 years of my Boeing career working with China, which represents nearly half of our 35-year history of cooperation. It has been an exciting and fulfilling journey that has recently brought me back a second time to live in Beijing to represent Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
My return to Beijing has caused me to reflect on the special relationship Boeing enjoys with China and where we are headed together in the future. A look at the latest numbers tells us part of the story:
Today, nearly 650 Boeing airplanes are operated by our Chinese airline customers - about 60% of the fleet. Looking forward, our forecast shows a requirement for 2,880 additional airplanes in the next 20 years - the largest market outside of the United States. We are confident that our market-leading portfolio of products and services positions us well to meet the needs of our customers and to continue our market leadership in the future.
Just as China represents one of Boeing largest customers, Boeing is the single largest foreign customer of China aviation manufacturing industry. Since the 1980, Boeing has purchased over US$730 million worth of aviation hardware from China. Our Chinese supplier-partners produce parts for all Boeing models: 737, 747, 767, 777 and the new 787 Dreamliner. Over 4,200 Boeing airplanes operate around the world with parts and assemblies built in China. Looking forward, Boeing has active contracts worth over US$1.6 billion indicative of the increasingly prominent role China is playing in the global aviation industry.
But the numbers only tell part of the story. The title of Boeing recently released 2006 annual report (available on our website: www.boeing.com) is harting the Course�. This is one of the leadership attributes that Boeing employees are expected to exhibit in our daily work, but I believe this phrase also represents the future of the Boeing-China relationship. We are indeed charting the course of aviation together. The combination of China's large market and excellent manufacturing capabilities, with Boeing 90 years of experience in the commercial aviation business, uniquely positions us to jointly shape the future state of this important global industry.
Some examples of what the future holds include China role as a launch customer and important supplier-partner on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which will take flight for the first time later this year. The highly successful 787 will bring new levels of comfort to the passenger, and unprecedented cost savings to the airlines while opening up new point-to-point service connecting China to the world. Boeing's expansion into the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) business with our Boeing Shanghai Aviation Services joint venture, as well as China lead role in freighter conversions as represented by our 747-400 BCF program at TAECO in Xiamen, represent important new dimensions to our relationship.
We are deeply honored to be China aviation partner and we value the opportunity to be harting the course� together!
