Where are they now ? No 435. Boeing 787 Dreamliner . Is it a bird ? Is it a non - conforming plane ....

The Boeing Co.'s 787 Dreamliner is noe expected to fly for the first time in Q2 2009 - but don't hold your breath. )Maiden commercial flight was originally planned August / September 2007)

If it does fly , it will incorporate the novel (and probably unique) engineering feature that (by design ) some pieces of this elaborate composite flying sandwich will by held together with ;

1. Er ....temporary fasteners.
2. Er .... improperly installed fasteners.

Boeing announced yesterday that hunting down, finding, replacing, checking nonconforming fasteners (Boeing are giving no numbers) in the six flight test planes will introduce even further delays that they cannot accept.

They assure customers and future pasengers , "will be replaced, however, before the six planes are eventually refurbished and turned over to customers to carry passengers".

Yvonne Leach, Boeing 787 chief spokeswoman told Lord Patel ona c rackly line out of Seattle yestedray... "The small number of fasteners that won't be replaced are not easy to reach and don't represent a safety of flight issue,"

Apparently they will be able to withstand the cycle of loads for testin, and Boeing is confident the nonconforming fasteners will not be a safety problem during flight tests. ... so that's alright then.

Chairman and Chief Executive Jim McNerney will be announcing Q4 2008 results tommorrow and may make some encouraging noises after the dead silence since early December.

It is known 4 planes are production in Everett and final assembly might begin on No 5 this week - followed later by No 6 . After testing they will all go to San Antonio (well out of the way) , where they will be refurbished and turned over to customers that have ordered them.

The fastener problems were only identified during a key pressurization test on one of the first 787s in Everett, when Boeing engineers discovered that some of the permanent fasteners had been correctly installed improperly by Boeing's partners. Those partners were working with drawings from Boeing engineers, and Boeing has acknowledged the mistake was the result of ambiguous or incomprehensible instructions.

The FAA are fully aware of these problems and have approved the steps that Boeing have taken in deciding to speed up flight testing by using non-conforming bodies.

Fascinating law suits beckon should tests result in problems which involve damage etc to staff, third parties, etc.,

Boeing 787 Dreamliner faces fourth (and final ?) delivery date, extended production dates, financing problems

The Wall Street Journal report today that Boeing (currently they are "reviewing schedules" ) will delay first deliveries of the 787 Dreamliner by at least six months. The current schedule is for initial deliveries to commence Q3 2009 but it faces many niggling production problems not least of which is the weight but also man and time absorbing software glitches and shoddy work from their many overseas and US based suppliers.

Boeing officials are expected to announce later this month that first deliveries may not occur until summer 2010, more than two years after the jet was originally scheduled to enter service.

Another delay would mark the fourth time that Boeing would have to tell the customers holding orders for almost 900 of the planes that it will be late. Each time, Boeing officials have made nice noises and assured customers and investors that the new schedule would be reliable, only to be subsequently surprised by new problems.

Dreamliner delays have also impacted the update to the 747 jumbo jet and serious problems of faulty fasteners on the 737 production line have caused huge problems, delays and lost production time.

In a recent interview, Virgin Atlantic Airways Chief Executive Steve Ridgeway voiced customers' growing frustration. "We're pretty fed up," he said. "We've got no clarity from Boeing."

Virgin was originally due to receive its first Dreamliner in 2011, but "we don't know how long the delay is now," Mr. Ridgeway said. He referred to the Dreamliner as "the world's rarest airplane."
There is a serious risk for Boeing that a further delay will also seriously upset customer airlines, leading to deferrals of orders or outright cancellations. The airlines most affected are those at the front of the line for 787 deliveries, Japan's All Nippon Airways , their rival Japan Airlines Corp and U.S. airlines Northwest, now part of Delta Air Lines Inc, and Continental Airlines Inc.

Expect a company jet to visit Washington real soon now and Boeing executives to demand plead for Federal funds as the recession hits air travel and the capacity of their customers to fund new planes .

Meanwhile here is a picture Toni Fabuloso took on board Lord Patel's personal Airbus 380 on our way to the opening of the Atlantis Hotel in Dubai ...

Jim Cramers stock picks Boeing (BA): "Boeing is the most worrisome stock in the Dow right now. I think they have nothing cooking over there, I say sell, sell, sell."

Boeing will cut outsourcing on 787 and on future projects - More Airbus 380's delivered

Boeing vice president for engineering Mike Denton has confirmed the company will scale back outsourced engineering on the next 787 variant (787 - 9) and reduce participation by outside partners on all future commercial aircraft programmes.

His remarks were aimed at the Boeing members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), a union now entering the final month of negotiations on a new labour contract.

They also indicate how big a mistake the 787's once-heralded production system relying on six major partners in three countries to make vast financial, engineering and production contributions to the Dreamliner.

Boeing mistakenly judged that its partners were capable of participating beyond build-to-print work, and then compounded that error by failing to track their progress he says. "Our engineers and production workers are basically correcting the problems that should have never come to us in the first place -- problems that are the result of the partners really not being done."

In a major volte face he went on in a company podcast today ... "We will probably do more of the design and even some of the major production for the next new airplanes ourselves as opposed to having it all out with the partners."

"We see that as building on lessons of the 787, taking advantage of the parts that were really good, but doing some course corrections so that we can not relive some of the harder lessons that we have experienced recently."

SPEEA, however, appears still far part with Boeing management on the issues. A mid-afternoon electroic message by Goforth on 30 October read: "SPEEA ends today's meeting early citing Boeing intransigence."

When will Dreamliner fly ? ScuttleBut says late '09 and if it works, enter service late 2010.

Airbus deliveries continue

Quantas have started using their first Airbus 380 on the Melbourne-Los Angeles services and from 24th October will operate the aircraft on some of its Sydney-Los Angeles services and from January will use it for some of its services to London via Singapore - wher it will compete with Singapore Airlines.

Emirates have taken delivery of their 2nd Airbus 380 for use on its Dubai-New York route which started operating on Wednesday 27 th October providing a daily service .

Two more 380's are scheduled for delivery to Emirates by the end of 2008.

Boeing shares slide as deliveries fall

Boeing are trading US$49.76 down US$4.07 (7.56%)
During the third quarter, Boeing delivered only 84 planes, down from 109 in the year-ago quarter. The strike is affecting assembly of Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner — already a year behind schedule — along with 737s, 777s, 767s, and 747s.

Delta Air Lines (DAL), the USA's No. 3 carrier, was expecting this fall to receive four long-range Boeing 777s and 737-700s, for a total of 10 new jets this year. "All I can tell you is we are expecting some delay in our deliveries," Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton said.

Last week, Ryanair canceled flights on 21 routes to and from Birmingham,UK, scheduled for this month because deliveries of Boeing 737s have been delayed.

Manufacturing mired in recession in UK and US ... Boeing hurting after one month of strike

Britain's manufacturing sector shrank in September at the fastest rate since records began.levels of output, new orders and employment registered unprecedented declines.

The figures come a day after the Office of National Statistics confirmed that the UK economy failed to grow in the second quarter.

They reinforce expectations that Britain has entered its first recession since the early 1990s and boost expectations that interest rates could be cut as soon as next week.

Meanwhile in the US,t he ISM's index of factory activity fell to 43.5 in September, compared with 49.9 in August and 50.0 in July. A reading below 50 indicates contracting economic activity; September's is the lowest since Oct. 2001.

The index "indicates a significantly faster rate of decline in manufacturing during September, marking a departure from the 2008 trend toward negligible growth or contraction each month," ISM said. Price inflation also slowed, to just 53.5 vs. 77 in August and 88.5 in July.

Machinists at Boeings's Everett, Washington factory have been on strike for nearly a month, extending seemingly endless delays on the 787--and on the three 777s Virgin Australia ordered for its first flights.

The new carrier, an offshoot of Virgin Blue, will now move its launch date back from December 15 to February 28, 2009 and hope that its planes are ready by then.

Air Wars hots up as Emirates launches Airbus 380 NY / JFK - Dubai route

Emirates start their Dubai - New York JFK round trip 3 times weekly flights in 2 weeks, of their spanking brand new Airbus 380's and join Singapore Airlines, now perating twice daily London/Singapore in operating these massive air cruisers. (Singapore are offering flights from Singapore to the Olympics from 2-8th August)

In a media blitz they will be operating a series of 2 hour round trip “familiarisation” flights out of San Francisco and Los Angeles for invited guests - the hot ticket in town - Lord Patel has had to demur as he will be busy watching TV that day.

The San Francisco familiarisation flight is scheduled for August 4, with the Los Angeles event set for the following day. The guests will be encouraged to tour the aircraft and take a close look at its three-class configuration - 14 first-class suites, 76 business seats and 399 economy – and a likely array of amenities that has the industry on tenterhooks.

Details released so far include showers in first-class and an all-premium upper deck but the the wraps are firmly on the aircraft being prepared in Hamburg.

Emirates will receive a total of five A380s in its current financial year, all in three-class, 489-seat ultra-long-haul configuration. After New York, these aircraft will operate on Emirates’ routes from Dubai to London Heathrow and Sydney-Auckland. The airline also plans to take delivery of numbers of A380s with three-class/517-seat and two-class/604-seat layouts.

Meanwhile gossip continues that George Bush (President United States) will bow out having ordered at least one Airbus 380 for Air Force One to repace the ageing White House 747 fleet.

Boeings Dreamliner is going to be very much on the back foot as the space and extra facilities cannot be offered - and the fuel cost savings have no or litle impact on ticket prices - especially to a market led by people who don't even look at the ticket price.

Production of the 1st Boeing 787Dreamliner has started

The first Boeing 787Dreamliner will roll out of the Everett. Wash. factory on July 8, 2007.

Scott Strode, 787 vice president of Airplane Definition and Production excitedly called to tell us that assembly of the first airplane began yesterday using what he calls, " a new way of building airplanes." (He sent a couple of snaps as well)

The 787 is the fastest-selling new airplane ever with 568 firm orders from 44 airlines, now all they have to do is make them.

Steve Westby who has the nerve wracking job , is 787 vice president of Manufacturing and Quality "The 787 production system is the culmination of the lessons we've learned building previous airplanes." Looking happily over the sleek, smooth lines of the first one on the blocks he might well swell with pride and say ... "Using composites on the 787 airframe has a number of manufacturing advantages. We are able to build huge structure in just one piece, which means we essentially have six major end items coming together in final assembly -- the forward, center and aft fuselage sections, the wings, the horizontal stabilizer and the vertical fin. "

Remarkably no overhead cranes are used to move airplane structure with portable tools, moving the assemblies into place like a giant Lego kit.

This first airplane will take about 7 weeks to assemble, the 787 team has to continuously improve flow time as production ramps up.

Ultimately, a 787 will roll out of the factory every 3 days.

Boeing have bet the factory on this - so far it's looking good. Now everybody is waiting for it to roll out and fly...it certainly looks good so far.