Increased overall profits came in spite of revenue weakness in Boeing's commercial airplanes group, which recorded $7.5 billion in revenue, down 13% from $8.6 billion in 1999. However, the unit had operating earnings in the latest quarter of $739 million, up from $534 million. "We continue to see significant performance improvements across our commercial airplane business," Boeing Chairman and Chief Executive Phil Condit said in a statement. In the latest quarter, the Seattle-based company delivered 117 commercial airplanes, bringing its nine-month total to 359. At the same time, Boeing's space and communications business incurred an operating loss of $14 million for the third quarter on revenue of $1.6 billion, compared with an operating profit of $137 million on revenue of $1.7 billion a year ago. During the third quarter, Boeing repurchased 10.6 million shares, bringing the total number of shares repurchased for the first nine months of the year to 19.3 million.