"Every new aircraft is more efficient than the one it replaces. So if you believe oil prices are going to stay high...that causes the acceleration of the replacement of older aircraft," the chief executive of the US aircraft maker said.
Stonecipher said he did not think oil prices would stay high for very long.
"They'll retreat, but if they don't it's good for new aircraft sales," he said, adding that it was too early to see any trends one way or the other.
Stonecipher was in Spain to close a deal with the aeronautical arm of Spanish wind power Gamesa, which will help design part of the 747 large cargo freighter that Boeing will use to transport parts of its new 787 Dreamliner.
Gamesa Chairman Alfonso Basagoiti, who held a joint news conference with Stonecipher, declined to disclose financial terms of the contract but said about 140 engineers would be working full time for at least a year on the design project.
He said that amounted to about 30 percent of Gamesa Aeronautica's engineering capacity, and Stonecipher said it was possible Gamesa would get further business related to the 787 programme.