Earnings per share declined 33 per cent to 96 cents, missing analysts' consensus forecast of 99 cents.

Third-quarter revenues fell seven percent to Us$15.3 billion, from US$16.5 billion in the same period in 2007, 'as labor strike and supplier production problems pushed airplane deliveries out of the quarter,' Boeing said in a statement.

The crippled production has raised concerns that Boeing will have to delay the launch of its new fuel-efficient 787 Dreamliner commercial plane.

Boeing said the decline in earnings reflects 'an ongoing machinists' strike and supplier production challenges on customer-furnished galleys for certain wide-body airplanes' which reduced third-quarter commercial airplane deliveries by approximately 35 units and net earnings by an estimated 60 cents share.

The strike by machinists, begun on September 6, is estimated to be costing the company US$100 million per day. According to a running union tally, the 47-day-old strike has cost Boeing more than US$4.6 billion to date.

During the July-September period, Boeing delivered 84 aircraft, compared with 125 in the second quarter and 115 in the first quarter.

The International Association of Machinists Local 751 says the union was maintaining its fight to keep its members' jobs from being outsourced.

Boeing's 27,000 machinists represent 16 percent of the company's workforce.

The company and the union have agreed to resume federally mediated contract talks Thursday.

'While the suspension of commercial airplane deliveries had a major impact on the quarter, we effectively executed the remainder of our business and kept our focus on the strong balance sheet we have built over the past few years,' Jim McNerney, Boeing chairman, president and chief executive, said in the statement.

'That balance sheet, along with our broad-based, record US$349-billion backlog, gives us exceptional flexibility for weathering an extended work stoppage and for adapting to circumstances that may arise from the global financial crisis and softening global economy.'-- AFP