Diversified manufacturer United Technologies Corp. expects to generate about US$15 billion in sales of parts for the upcoming Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner aircraft, United Technologies's top executive said on May 22.

United Technologies' Hamilton Sundstrand unit is producing systems governing heat management, electricity and fire protection on Boeing's first all-new plane in more than a decade.

"The 787 program for Hamilton is good financially; it's got good returns," said George David, chairman and chief executive of United Technologies, which also makes Pratt & Whitney jet engines and Otis elevators.

That is despite the fact, he said, that engineering costs for the project have risen as the company scrambles to meet last-minute production guidelines.

He noted that the Hartford, Connecticut-based company expects to sell about US$2 million of components for each 787 but did not specify how many years he expects the program to run.

Boeing started assembly of the first 787 in Everett, Washington, near Seattle, earlier. It expects the first such mid-sized plane, which will seat up to 330 people, to be ready for test flight in August and to be delivered to a customer in May 2008.