THERE are not many businesses in which the next six years’ worth of customers form an orderly queue, putting down stout deposits and topping them up with further instalments as they wait in line. But that is Boeing’s fortunate position. On January 25th it announced a 21% rise in annual net profits, to $4 billion.Last September, after three years of delay, Boeing made the first deliveries of its newest model, the 787 Dreamliner. A revamped version of the trusty but ageing 747 jumbo has also arrived, two years late. A few airlines got fed up and cancelled, but most had small choice but to keep waiting. Boeing’s main rival, Airbus, has an even longer backlog—up to eight years at current production rates. And the delivery schedule for Airbus’s answer to the Dreamliner, the A350, has been slipping.Last year, straining to ramp up production to meet soaring demand, the two huge planemakers turned out a confirmation 1,011 airliners between them. But for every plane they delivered, they won more than two fresh instructions (net of cancellations), so the queue got longer. On January 25th Boeing won its largest-ever order from Europe:…

Original post by The Economist: Business