Boeing Co

The Air Force unveiled the final terms of a $40-billion competition for 179 new aerial refueling tankers, as Northrop Grumman Corp. and its partner Airbus parent EADS, weighed whether to pull out of the running against Boeing Co.

Boeing Co. shares soared Wednesday after the company reported that fourth-quarter profit more than doubled and raised its earnings outlook for the next two years. With a surge in commercial aircraft orders, the world's largest aerospace manufacturer said quarterly earnings climbed to $989 million, or $1.29 a share, from $460 million, or 58 cents, a year earlier. Revenue jumped 26% to $17.5 billion. The results exceeded analysts' forecasts of per-share profit of 98 cents.

United Parcel Service Inc. ordered 27 Boeing Co. 767-300 freighters valued at as much as $3.89 billion to meet demand from increasing global trade. The purchase comes as Atlanta-based UPS remains in talks with European plane maker Airbus over its delayed order for 10 A380 jumbo freighters. The new Boeing planes aren't intended to replace the A380s and will instead fill shorter-range needs, UPS said. The 767s will be delivered from 2009 to 2012.

Boeing Co. announced Monday that it would propose a redesigned version of the 767 jetliner as its entry in the bidding for a $40-billion contract to supply the Air Force with new aerial refueling tankers. The aerospace giant said it had tweaked the design of its 767 long-range freighter to improve fuel-efficiency and allow it to take off and land on shorter runways. Chicago-based Boeing is competing against Century City-based Northrop Grumman Corp.

Boeing Co., the world's second-largest maker of commercial airplanes, said Monday that Air New Zealand Ltd. had finalized an order for four additional 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft valued at $700 million at list prices. The order, which was first announced in December, will bring the airline's total Dreamliner order to eight, Boeing said. The four airplanes will be delivered between 2011 and 2013.

Talks on a multibillion-dollar deal for Russian state flag carrier Aeroflot to buy 22 Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets are on hold, and frosty relations between Russia and the United States could be to blame, a Russian airline official said. Aeroflot management last year asked the government -- the company's controlling shareholder -- to approve a deal to upgrade its long-range fleet by buying 22 Boeing 787s and an equal number of Airbus A350s.

The Air Force should reopen the bidding on a contract worth up to $15 billion for 141 search-and-rescue helicopters, the Government Accountability Office said Monday. The contract was awarded last fall to Boeing Co., which beat out rival proposals by Lockheed Martin Corp. and United Technologies Corp.'s Sikorsky Aircraft unit. Under the contract the Air Force will acquire a variant of Boeing's CH-47 Chinook.

Boeing Co. said Friday that it had resumed early steps toward shutting the production line for its C-17 Air Force transport plane in Long Beach because of a lack of new orders. In a repeat of last summer, Boeing said it had begun telling suppliers to stop producing parts for the C-17, the last of which would roll out of the Long Beach factory in mid-2009 unless further orders were placed for the four-engine jet. It takes about 34 months from the production of the first part to final assembly.

China's long-held goal of developing a jetliner for the world market may finally take wing. But will it fly? The Chinese government said it planned to set up a state-owned company to build a 150-seat airliner that would compete with planes from industry leaders Boeing Co. and Airbus, which account for about 90% of global commercial aircraft sales.

The Air Force will not reopen the $15-billion contract awarded to Boeing Co. to build rescue helicopters despite a report from the auditing arm of Congress that said the military was inconsistent in its requirements. Boeing, which plans to build the helicopters at its plant in Ridley Park, Pa., beat out Lockheed Martin Corp. and Sikorsky Aircraft in November for the contract to build 141 helicopters by 2019. The rescue aircraft will be used to recover downed pilots.