Red-faced Boeing has no answers on phase-out of MD11

AN EMBARRASSED silence greeted international journalists when Boeing executives were questioned on the phase-out next millennium of the McDonnel Douglas MD11 - an aircraft that the manufacturer describes as superior in its freighter format.
The question followed the Frankfurt hand-over by Boeing of Lufthansa Cargo's first two MD11 freighters. At the official launch ceremony the cargo carrier's chairman, Wilhelm Althen, described the MD11F as the most cost efficient and environmentally friendly, wide-bodied freighter in the world market.
It burns 25% less fuel per tonne-kilometre flown than the Boeing 747-200F alternative, he added, and its emission levels are distinctly lower.
But, following the recent merger of Boeing and McDonnel Douglas - to form the largest aerospace company in the world - this superior machine will soon be removed from the group's production quota.
Asked about this apparent contradiction, the international press members at the hand-over were met with near silence from Dick James, Boeing president for Europe, and James Bouey, engineering director of the aircraft manufacturer's Douglas products division.