Boeing Co  said on Monday its C-17 transport plane program is at a critical juncture and the next months will determine the fate of the company’s production line beyond July 2011.

Barring further orders from the U.S. Air Force, the production line is facing a shutdown in July 2011, even though the company believes it could sell 20 to 30 aircraft overseas in coming years, said Tommy Dunehew, vice president of business development for the Boeing program.

“We need a U.S. line open and U.S. orders to keep the place open. International by itself doesn’t do it,” he told Reuters in an interview at the annual Air Force Association meeting.

Dunehew said the company was anxiously awaiting the outcome of House-Senate negotiations on the fiscal 2010 defense appropriations bill. The House added three aircraft to its bill, while the Senate added 10. “We’ll make our decisions based on what comes out of that,” he said.

Boeing has said it ideally needs about 15 aircraft orders to maintain an economically viable production line, but Dunehew said it would probably be able to continue building airplanes if the order was around 10 to 12, especially if there were some near-term certain foreign orders in the offing.

Source: Reuters
Photo: Rob Vogelaar