Boeing Gets First Paris Air Show Order, For 2 Jets

"There is a growing concern that they will no longer be able to carry those heavier" loads, he said. "They may well have a requirement in the foreseeable future."

Boeing and Airbus parent EADS are also setting their sights on a new bid for a U.S. Air Force contract. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to restart in the coming weeks the troubled process of replacing the Air Force's aging fleet of planes that gas up other jets in mid-flight.

Gates canceled the earlier bidding after the U.S. Government Accountability Office faulted the Air Force's selection last year of a team composed of Northrop Grumman Corp. and Airbus parent European Aeronautics Defense and Space Co., saying the service had unfairly slanted the process against Boeing.

Dave Bowman, Boeing's head of tanker programs, said everything depends on what the Air Force wants, and Boeing could offer either the 767 or 777 platforms for the tanker. In the previous bid, Boeing offered a 767.

"There's not a 777 tanker today but we've spent a lot of time over the past year studying what it would take to develop the airplane and there's been a number of changes to the commercial 777 since the previous evaluation," he said.