In mid-December 2003, the new management of the Boeing Company authorised its commercial aircraft unit to offer the "super efficient" 7E7 Dreamliner to the market. Two months later no airline had placed the first order, and it seems unlikely that any airline will sign a contract for a few more months. The US majors ― historically Boeing's best customers ― are still struggling to reduce their costs and are more interested in delaying existing orders than in placing new ones. European and Asian airlines, though generally in better shape than their US counterparts, have still to digest the string of orders they signed before the crisis. Even the Japanese carriers, on which Boeing is placing great hopes, are showing no signs of being in a hurry.
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