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Boeing generated more cash than expected last year and reclaimed the top spot over rival Airbus as the world's biggest airplane maker.

But all that was overshadowed by the fact that its entire fleet of 787s is grounded after batteries on two of its planes either overheated or caught fire.

"For 2013, our first order of business, obviously, is getting the 787 back into service," Boeing CEO James McNerney says.

With the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration investigating the incidents, McNerney said repeatedly on a conference call he could not hazard any guesses about how and when the review would turn out. .

"I can't predict an outcome and I'm not going to," he says. "We're in the middle of an investigation. We're making progress on the investigation. We've got every expert in the world looking at this issue."

In the meantime, McNerney says, Boeing plans to keep building the planes on schedule.

"Business as usual, let's keep making planes and then let's ramp up as we've planned," he says.

But some are not so sure about continuing the assembly line.

"I'm skeptical, only because we don't know what we don't know," Scott Hamilton, an aviation industry consultant, says.

Without new information, he says it's impossible to gauge the potential impact of the 787's grounding on Boeing.

"We don't know what the problem is, we don't know what the solution is, we don't know what the design of the fix will be, we don't know how long the planes will be on the ground," Hamilton says.

The investigations have centered on the plane's new lithium-ion batteries — notable for both their power and volatility. Several media reports said airlines had returned large numbers of faulty batteries. In Wednesday's call, however, McNerney dismissed those issues as routine maintenance unrelated to the recent overheating incidents.

The Two-Way

Fuel Leak At Logan Airport Adds To Trouble For Boeing 787 Dreamliner

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