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Boeing lines up a slew of aircraft

Boeing Co, which hopes to pip its rival Airbus as the word’s No 1 plane maker this year, has lined up a slew of aircraft for which international carriers are already vying to become launch customers.

Ray Conner, president and CEO of commercial airplanes, told Khaleej Times that orders for the 787, the most successful aeroplane so far from Boeing, the biggest US exporter, has already bulged to 838.

On Emirates airline’s interest in replacing its entire 777 fleet with a new-gen version of the widebody at an estimated cost of $36 billion, Conner said talks with prospective customers for the proposed 777x are at a preliminary stage. “We are gathering lots of information from airlines as to exactly what they are looking for in terms of size,” he said.

He said the 787-9, the second member of the family which is slightly bigger than the launch variant 787-8, is already under development and scheduled to roll out in early 2014. The CEO said there are quite a few customers for the product, including Abu Dhabi-based Etihad, which has placed a firm order for 41 pieces.

Conner was non-committal on using light-weight composite material, the hallmark of the 787, in new variants of other popular models, saying using similar material will depend on case to case, plane to plane.

“The -9 will be a phenomenal airplane. We are really proud of how it is taking shape right now,” said Mike Sinnett, the 787 chief project engineer. “We started major assembly earlier this year. We reached 90 per cent drawing release in October. Final assembly will begin in the middle of next year, first flight thereafter and the first delivery in 2014,” he said. Qa-tar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker told Khaleej Times on the sidelines of the 787 delivery to Qatar Air-ways last week, the Middle East carrier wants to become the launch customer for the proposed 787-10, the latest in the family which Boe-ing says will have one of the best seat-mile costs.

“The -10 is a study that we are looking at. That would add an-other 18 feet to the airplane and carry 30-40 more passengers,” Sinnett told Khaleej Times. Con-ner had disclosed earlier that the plane, which might need a rede-signed landing gear, would have two additional fuselage sections. Conner said board approval to be-gin selling the plane may be sought in the near future.

This week, Boeing also finished defining its newest single-aisle airplane, the 737 MAX. It said plans to achieve 13 per cent re-duction in fuel consumption, in-clude new LEAP-1B engines from CFM International, a redesigned tail cone and Advanced Technol-ogy winglets. suresh@khaleejtimes.com