The drug culture is no place for amateurs.
First off, Boeing claims 186 commitments, not firm orders.
Second, it's a bigger aircraft.
Third, the original 747 and 747-400 weren't launched into slumps (dot.bomb, post-9/11).
I hope the writer of this piece at least got a good lunch out of Boeing
PR - washed down, as it was, with Kool-Aid.