Boeing Takes Wraps Off Revolutionary Airliner

ANN REALTIME REPORTING 07.08.07 1930 EDT: The Dreamliner has made its entrance. Following an extremely protracted opening ceremony -- in which seemingly everyone but Zippy the Wonder Squirrel extolled the virtues of globalization, quieter airliners, and more hospitable cabin environments -- Boeing unveiled the plane it believes will revolutionize the industry: the carbon-fiber composite-bodied 787.

In an unusual move, flight attendants representing the 47 airlines which have ordered the 787 to date stood at stage center as Boeing took the wraps off the first plane, which was towed over to the hangar from the paint shop during the hour-long introduction.

The event was broadcast in nine different languages via satellite and Webcast. Boeing states the unveiling was transmitted in more than 45 countries using 35 satellite TV networks (alas, not without some early difficulties with audio.)

In the hours leading up to the unveiling, Boeing announced a new order for the Dreamliner: Air Berlin ordered 25 787-8s. The order, valued at $4 billion list, is the single largest placed by any European carrier, and brings the total number of 787s ordered worldwide to 677. Air Berlin is securing 10 options and 15 purchase rights for additional 787s.

"This has been a wonderful and exciting day to celebrate this breakthrough airplane with our customers, employees, supplier partners and our communities," said Scott Carson, Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and CEO. "We are gratified that the 787 has been so strongly validated in the marketplace by our customers. Their response is proof that the Dreamliner will bring real value to our airline customers, passengers and the global air transportation system."

On Saturday, Boeing also honored its 7-Series family of airplanes with a special show, featuring customers' Boeing-produced airplanes.

The airplanes on display at Boeing Field included an Omega Air 707; an AirTran Airways 717; a FedEx 727; an Alaska Airlines 737-800; the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 Flying Test Bed 747-200; a Continental Airlines 757; a Delta Air Lines 767; and Air France's 777-300ER (Extended Range). In addition, the Boeing 747-400 Dreamlifter, which transports segments of the 787 fuselage to Everett for assembly, was on static display.

Each airplane -- the 707 through the 777 -- took off from Paine Field, adjacent to Boeing's Everett, WA facility, and landed at Boeing Field in Seattle,in sequence of airplane model numbers matching to time, beginning with the 707 landing at 7:07 p.m. Pacific time. The special display was part of a Boeing-sponsored event held at The Museum of Flight as part of the weekend's activities for the 787 Premiere.

ORIGINAL REPORT

0001 EDT: Sunday at 1830 EDT (1530 PDT) is the moment some 15,000 Boeing employees and subcontractors, and millions of aviation buffs around the world, have been waiting for: the time the American planemaker is slated to roll out the first completed 787 Dreamliner.

As ANN reported, Boeing is preparing a lavish ceremony, hosted by NBC news broadcaster Tom Brokaw and scheduled to be transmitted throughout the globe via satellite television and webcasts. As many as 100 million are expected to tune in, Boeing tells the Chicago Tribune.

While many workers have seen segments of the Dreamliner, for many it will be the first time they will see the first all-new Boeing jet since 1994's rollout of the 777 in all its glory.

"You're just going to look at this thing in amazement and go, 'Holy smokes,'" said Tom Wroblewski, president of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751, which represents the Boeing workers in Everett, WA who have worked furiously to meet the planemaker's rollout deadline.

While rollout of the first new model aircraft is a heralded milestone for any planemaker, the true tests for the Dreamliner still lay ahead. Boeing is scheduled to fly the first 787 sometime between mid-August and late September, and that flight will be watched nervously by the customers who have ordered over 660 planes to date.

Mike Bair, vice-president and general manager of the 787 program, says it's a virtual certainty an unexpected problem will crop up during those first flights. "We are going to find something [on those flights]," Bair said. "We always do. There's a reason it's called testing."

Two problems have already cropped up during assembly of the first plane -- an industry-wide shortage of fasteners, and a composite fuselage segment that didn't quite line up with its mate. Boeing was able to work around both issues, though its unclear how similar problems could affect the program once the 787 goes into full-scale production.

At that is, perhaps, where the real question lies regarding the 787: how the many outside suppliers Boeing has contracted to produce parts for the Dreamliner, will be able to handle the rigors of Boeing's tight production schedule. The planemaker intends to certify the 787 by May 2008, and deliver 149 aircraft before the end of that year.

That's also the question rival Airbus is betting Boeing will stumble on... as its 787-beater, the A350 XWB, isn't slated to enter service until 2013 -- giving Boeing a five-year headstart in the marketplace.

Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, pooh-poohs whispers in the market that Boeing won't be able to meet its own schedule.

"We tend to be a conservative and calculating company," Tinseth said. "We have a plan to meet the commitments to our customers. I fully expect we'll meet our commitments." Tinseth notes 22 of the last 23 new Boeing aircraft have met their deadlines -- and the one holdout, the 747-400, was only three months late.

Others aren't so sure, however.

"The real problems for capacity will not be Boeing; they'll be the Japanese, the Italians and Spirit AeroSystems," said JSA Research analyst Paul Nisbet, referring to the builders of the wings and carbon-fiber fuselage barrels. "They're the ones who're going to have to figure out how to build this complex thing at a much faster rate."

Wroblewski adds Boeing is betting on suppliers to be able to handle tasks traditionally performed by Boeing workers... and so far, many haven't been able to rise to the task.

"Right now, the suppliers haven't been able to deliver what the company said they should deliver: a completed section," he said.

Boeing maintains early issues are common on a new aircraft program.

FMI: www.boeing.com