Event Review
151st Industry Leader Lunch
Foreign Correspondents' Club, Hong Kong
17 October 2006
In the Easy Chair - Boeing Super Salesman Reflects on Airplanes, Airlines, Asia, Wine and Golf
Larry Dickenson, Vice President Sales, Boeing Commercial Airplanes commented on a diverse range of issues at the AFA Industry Leader Lunch today.
Golf and aviation, it appears, have a lot more in common than getting a bunch of aerospace people out for 18 holes. The properties of composite materials, aerodynamic design and manufacturing techniques are just a few good examples.
Swapping the Power Point presentation for a comfy chair and the warm and fuzzy interviewing techniques of Orient Aviation's Barry Grindrod and Aerospace Forum Asia's Martin Craigs, Dickenson confirmed he is a tester for Callaway Golf, trying out clubs and balls, as they are developed.
His only lament was that Callaway Golf has yet to design a magic club that could improve his moderate game.
In more serious vein, Dickenson reflected widely and candidly on his aviation career which includes more than twenty years as Boeing's head of sales for commercial aircraft in Asia Pacific.
He believes these are dynamic times for Boeing with the 787 and 747-8 series close to production. "I'm excited by the 787 and 747-8. I want to stay around and see them take off," he said. Dickenson, who it is estimated has so far sold US$150 billion worth of aircraft, said it was this enthusiasm ?and a heart to heart with former Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and chief executive Alan Mulally - that prompted his decision last year to postpone his widely anticipated retirement. Quite whether, at 63, he has "another plane in him", after the 787 and 747-8, remains to be seen, but he cherishes the people he works with and the worldwide friendships he has made along the way, especially in Asia.
In an interesting aside he confessed to having flirted briefly with the role of buyer rather than seller of aircraft.
"Anybody in sales, sometime in life, wants to be a buyer more than a seller" because they see it as more fun.
Dickenson's time came in 1983 when he left McDonnell Douglas to work for the Texas Air Corporation, parent company of Continental and Eastern Airlines. Responsible for aircraft acquisition, sales and aircraft financing, Dickenson said: "I knew McDonnell Douglas. I got to know Boeing and was getting to know Airbus". He said it was his job to "generally make them feel bad". But overall, he didn’t think his role as a buyer "was as much fun as I thought it was going to be", hence the move to Boeing.
Mulling the changes in the industry, he said the overriding emphasis on safety and reliability has changed over the years so that while, still vitally important, aircraft have had to also become more efficient (and entertaining, i.e. complex to wire up). He lamented the cancellation of Boeing’s Sonic Cruiser, a 300 passenger aircraft that was to fly at near the speed of sound. With its twin tail, delta wing and canard mini-wings on front fuselage. Dickenson believed it was a beautiful aircraft. However a frank assessment from former British Airways CEO Rod Eddington that British Airways would be likely to order only 15-20 of the airplanes, because they could not charge a premium for speed was one of the factors which prompted Boeing to reconsider their development strategy. Assured of a much bigger market for a mid-size aircraft, flying below the speed of sound, the Sonic Cruiser morphed into the 787.
As expected, Dickenson did not offer commentary on his arch rival Airbus’s current situation . . . apart from an acknowledgement that "new aircraft are damn difficult, especially big ones!"
Outlining the influence of Asia on his career so far, Dickenson ?who had made nearly 400 trips to Asia (his wife is counting), praised the Asian people for being "really enterprising and genuine. Friendships I’ve made in Asia are friendships that will last a lifetime", he said.
In answering a final question from the floor, from Derek Cridland, Engineering Director of Cathay Pacific, Dickenson did not rule out the possibility of another major aircraft manufacturer coming to the market. He praised the quality of components now being produced in China for Boeing airplanes and said this trend for outsourcing would continue. By way of example the rudder for the new 787 would be manufactured in China.
Dickenson's easy chair talk was concluded appropriately with the presentation of AFA's Hon. Vice Chairman, Chic Eather's book "Airport of the Nine Dragons". As observed by AFA President, Martin Craigs, let's hope that Dickenson will follow in the footsteps of revered colleague and author Joe Sutter by producing his own memoir, one of these days.
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