First flight of Boeing 787 Dreamliner likely in late December 2009; first delivery in 2010-end

The Boeing Company says the first flight of its much-awaited Boeing 787 jetliner, nicknamed the Dreamliner, is very likely in late December 2009, and the Dreamliner will be delivered to the first customers at the end of 2010.

Photo: Being 787 Dreamliner

According to the company, the target of the first flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is waiting for the completion of validation tests of the plane’s side-of-body modification. It was this modification that delayed the first fight of the Boeing 787, which had been earlier planned for June 2009. Read our June 09 story about the delay in the test flight.

Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner program said that the design of the side-of-body solution was on track, and that installations of the fittings there proceeding well.  He confirmed that Boeing is on track to fly the 787 Dreamliner by the end of 2010.

Preparations for the maiden flight have been put off till validation tests on static test airframe ZY997 are over, according to industry watchers.

Even after the validation tests are completed, there will be more tests – the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Boeing Company will have to evaluate the results and confirm that the Dreamliner’s design meets the required norms and goals.

Aviation analysts are of the opinion that, though the Boeing Company is not divulging details of the static-testing schedule of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the indications are that the pre-flight procedures  – or, the gauntlet tests – are likely to be held some time  in the end of November 2009.

The first-flight window has been set for December 17-24, 2009. However, even in the event of any problems arising, the Boeing Company still has the last week of December 2009 in order to attain its target of flying the new plane by the end of 2009.

The Boeing Company’s ambitious 787 Dreamliner project has been beset with flaws in design flaws as well as problems relating to outsourced supply lines.

Meanwhile, the company is at risk of losing an order for its Boeing 787 aircraft worth $1 billion from Oman Air, the national airline of the Sultanate of Oman, if the 2-year delay is extended any further.

Oman Air has ordered 6 Dreamliner aircraft for delivery, starting in the first half of 2014.

If the Boeing Company cannot keep its promise on delivery, Oman Air may, instead, opt for the Airbus A330 Superjumbo, Peter Hill, CEO of Oman Air, said in an interview.

Oman Air, based in Muscat, already has 7 Airbus A330 planes on order – with the first 4 of them slated to be handed over in 2009.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a mid-sized, wide-body, twin-engine jet airliner being developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The plane’s maximum seating capacity, in a one-class configuration, is between 290 and 330, depending on the variant.

The company claims that the Boeing 787 will be more fuel-efficient than the earlier Boeing planes. Also, the Dreamliner will be the first major airliner that uses composite materials, mainly carbon fibre, for most of its construction.

The Boeing Company featured its first 787 Dreamliner in a roll-out ceremony held on July 8, 2007, at its assembly factory at Everett, Washington, the United States. By that time, the Boeing 787 had become the fastest-selling, wide-body passenger aircraft in history – with about 600 orders.

On 28 October, Boeing announced that it had chosen its North Charleston manufacturing facility as the second final assembly site for the 787 Dreamliner.  Boeing’s Charleston facility behind the fabrication, assembly and systems installation of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Things have not been great for Boeing recently with European aircraft manufacturer Airbus announcing recently that in the first 10 months of 2009, they received 123 net orders compared to 84 for Boeing.  On the other hand, Boeing received 111 cancellations in the same period of which 83 were for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

The Boeing Dreamliner 787 is the company’s competitor against the Airbus A380 which has already started flying.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner will be 80% composite materials by volume, and each aircraft will contain 35 tons of carbon fiber reinforced plastic.  The Dreamliner is expected to be relatively lightweight, and should result in fuel savings.  The Dreamliner’s composite fuselage makes it the first composite airliner in production.  There have been several controversies about the 787 Dreamliner’s unique features such as the composite fuselage, excess weight and the likelihood of in difference between the in-flight Internet Service for the passengers.  In the first case, many believe that compose fuselages are much more resistant to electricity, and therefore might be a problem in case of a lightning strike.  Boeing says that the 787 Dreamliner we meet all FAA requirements.  The first Boeing 787 will be more than 2000 kilos overweight, and the company says that the seventh aircraft onwards would meet all goals.  There the concerns about intentional or unintentional passenger access to the aircraft’s computer networks, but here too, Boeing says that the passenger part of the network would be completely segregated from anything that would interfere with the computer systems of the aircraft.