Flight Rediness Review Scheduled For Saturday

After passing its remaining ground tests with flying colors, Boeing executives say the long-delayed 787 Dreamliner could be flying right now, and they fully expect the maiden flight to take place later this month.

Speaking at the Paris Air Show, Scott Carson, head of Boeing’s commercial-airplanes unit, told Bloomberg News “I personally believe the airplane could fly today”. Carson told the press that the reason Boeing was not flying the Dreamliner at Paris was because there was no reason to risk flying when all the benchmarking was not completed. "We don’t want to take shortcuts,” he told the press.

Boeing is looking for some positive news from the show, since they have yet to report a single order at Paris. Carson told reporters that he thinks economic conditions have found the bottom, and that the commercial jet division could start picking up again in the next year. The Washington, DC Business Journal reports that Carson does not look for layoffs from Boeing's production lines, but that the company will cut production of the widebody 777 by 28 percent, and production of 767's and 747's will not be increased.

Frost & Sullivan’s Aerospace & Defense Industry Manager Wayne Plucker, an industry analyst, told the DC Business Journal "The fact that they didn’t have to quietly announce cancellations was a big thing. It’s not a bad airshow considering the gloom and doom that’s been around the industry for the last year. For Boeing, it’s not bad, and not bad is good, so to speak.”

FMI: www.boeing.com