Boeing is sticking to its assertion that its long-delayed 787 will take its first flight before the end of the second quarter. That news is attracting Bronx cheers from some quarters of the blogosphere, which after two years of delays is taking anything the company has to say about the new jet’s delivery schedule with a huge grain of salt.
But recent reports from Seattle-area journalists and aerospace industry publications certainly indicate that the Dreamliner is about to take flight.
What catches my eye is this: the first 787 went back to the paint hangar at Boeing’s Everett factory for touch-ups earlier this month. It emerged over the weekend, and now that the plane is ready, any day now Boeing should start a series of ground tests of some basic functions. (For instance, if you flip the switch do the lights come on? If you pull back on the yoke in the cockpit, do the flaps respond? ) After that, Boeing will tow the plane over to its flight line, next door to Paine Field, where it will do more intensive tests, including firing up the engines for the first time.
This ground-based testing is the final phase of the manufacturing process. One report says that Boeing’s planning to take two months to work through all of it. That suggests, then, that a first flight could take place sometime toward the end of May or early June, if all goes perfectly. And if there are glitches, Boeing will have all of June to get them fixed, making it seem reasonable to me that the first jet will fly before the first of July.
In other good news for the 787 program, IcelandAir said today that it’s still committed to plans to buy four Dreamliners from Boeing, despite the airline industry slump and all of Iceland’s financial problems. Boeing has sold nearly 900 of the new planes, but has seen 32 of those orders canceled this year.
And speaking of Boeing orders, Turkish Airlines said today in a regulatory filing that it plans to buy five 777-300 jets in 2010-11. This would be a new order that Boeing hasn’t listed on its books.
On the other hand, FedEx is threatening to back out of a deal for 15 777s if Congress approves changes in labor law that would make it easier for FedEx employees to form local unions.
