Stretched Dreamliner delayed by a year

Seattle: The Boeing Company will not fast-track the launch of the stretched version of the 787 Dreamliner - 787-9 or 787-X, which will accommodate up to 300 and 350 passengers respectively - as sought by some Gulf carriers including Emirates, a Boeing official said.

"The delivery of the 787-9 will only be around the latter half of 2010 while we have pushed back the 787-X by a year to 2013, instead of 2012," Mike Bair, Boeing's vice-president and general manager of the 787 programme, said on Friday.

Emirates has asked Boeing to fast-track the stretched version, which will help the carrier carry more passengers across its network. Boeing earlier made a strong bid to secure an Emirates order, which according to Emirates officials could go up to 100 aircraft.

"If we get the right aircraft that we are looking for, then we might buy up to 100 jets," Tim Clark, president of Emirates, told Gulf News earlier.

However, to satisfy the need, Boeing's rival Airbus has launched a 300-350 seat A350XWB aircraft, changing the equation. Boeing recently lost a bid to Airbus on the mid-sized jet when Qatar Airways last month signed a firm order for 80 A350s.

Weighing options

Emirates is still weighing its options on the deal, worth anywhere between $16-$18 billion.

Meanwhile, Boeing has chosen today to roll out the 250-seat 787 Dreamliner aircraft, which has been the centre of media attraction for some time along with the Airbus A380 superjumbo.

Boeing says the 787 leads the industry as the most technologically advanced commercial jetliner and is the world's first mostly composite aircraft.

The plane is poised to serve point-to-point travel segments, as opposed to the hub-and-spoke model served by larger jetliners.

"We have chosen the 787 because its fuel efficiency will save us costs and due to environmental consideration," V. Thulasidas, Air India's chairman and managing director, said.

Most growing carriers like Emirates, Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways will require both models of the 787 in their game plan in order to efficiently manage their future traffic growth.

The 787-8 Dreamliner will carry 210-250 passengers on routes of 7,650 to 8,200 nautical miles (14,200 to 15,200 kilometres), while the 787-9 model will carry 250-290 passengers on routes of 8,000 to 8,500 nautical miles (14,800 to 15,750 kilometres).

The aircraft will then begin a flight test programme next month before deliveries are begun in May 2008 to launch customer All Nippon Airways.

Boeing has secured 642 firm orders from 46 customers, booking its production for the next eight years.

"The numbers are more than we anticipated and I expect the orders to go up to 700 by the end of this year," Bair told Gulf News.

"If you make fresh orders now, we won't be able to deliver them before 2015."

IN FIGURES
Fast facts

• The 787-8 Dreamliner will carry 210-250 passengers on routes of 7,650 to 8,200 nautical miles (14,200 to 15,200 kilometres)
• The 787 will use 20 per cent less fuel for comparable journeys than today's similarly sized aircraft
• It will also travel at speeds similar to today's fastest wide bodies, Mach 0.85
• About 50 per cent of the 787 is made of composite materials.
• Boeing has selected General Electric and Rolls-Royce to develop engines for the new plane
• New advances in engine technology will contribute as much as eight per cent of the increased efficiency of the new plane, representing a nearly two-generation jump in technology for the middle of the market.
• Another improvement in efficiency will come in the way the plane is designed and built. New technologies and processes are in development to help Boeing and its supplier partners achieve unprecedented levels of performance at every phase of the programme. For example, by manufacturing a one-piece fuselage section, the company will eliminate 1,500 aluminium sheets and 40,000-50,000 fasteners.

Timeline

• The Boeing board of directors granted authority to begin marketing the plane in late 2003
• Programme launch took place in April 2004 with a record order from All Nippon Airways
• The programme has signed on 43 supplier partners and together finalised the plane's configuration in September 2005. These partners started detailed design and, with Boeing, are connected at 135 sites around the world to work towards major assembly in 2006. Eleven partners from around the world started facility construction for a total of three million additional square feet to create their major structures and bring the next new plane to market.
• The 787 programme opened its final assembly plant in Everett in 2007.