Dennis Muilenburg, chairman of the world’s leading aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co. said that Boeing will cooperate with Korea to jointly develop next-generation aircrafts and expand its presence here by maintaining close business ties with its Korean partners such as Korean Air Lines Co.

In an interview with the Maeil Business Newspaper, Muilenburg said Boeing and Korea have “a solid history of working together that goes back more than 65 years.” He added that “Boeing has continuously developed partnership with Korea in both commercial airplane and defense markets that support the growth of the Korean aerospace industry.”

He was named the 10th chief executive officer of Boeing last year and elected chairman of the company’s board of directors in March this year. He started at Boeing in 1985 as an engineering intern and has been serving for the company for 31 years. It was his first interview with the Korean media.

“Korea represents one of the top 10 largest international markets for Boeing’s commercial and defense business units,” he said. The global aerospace giant spent more than $500 million in Korea in 2015, up from $460 million in 2014, and doubled the research and development spending in Korea from the previous year. Korean Air and Boeing recently agreed to join forces in developing unmanned 500MD helicopters.

As the company estimates that demand for nearly 15,000 new airplanes over the next 20 years would come from the Asia Pacific region out of total 39,000 units of global demand, he seeks to enhance cooperation with Korea in research and development. He said that he has a long-term investment plan as he projected the market in the region would grow 11 percent to 15 percent annually.

He also emphasized that Boeing is bolstering its aerospace business. “We are partnered with NASA on the development of a new commercial crew transportation called Starliner that is critical to the sustainment and utilization of the International Space Station, with (planned) entry into service in 2018,” he said.

By Kim Jung-hwan

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]