A news article published this month says that Boeing’s latest project, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, might be facing some difficulties meeting the optimum weight specifications for the airframe on the first six production models. The community over at Airliners has been discussing it, and I figured I might as well take a stab at it at this point.
Before I get into the topic fully, I think a disclaimer is in order. I am a Boeing fan, I won’t hide it. I love everything they’ve made, and I think they’re the better manufacturer, all said and done. However, credit has to go to Airbus for putting up a fight, and making Boeing work for it. Let’s face it, competition is often what drives innovation, and nowhere has this been more evident than in recent aviation history.
In my opinion, the whole thing about the airframe being 2% overweight is not a big deal, as long as is it within the margin of the performance promised to the airlines. Since we can’t really see the contracts, there’s no way to know for sure that it is… But surely Boeing left themselves some wiggle room in there, since things can and do happen.
I can’t help but think that someone who wants to make a big deal out of something like this is simply trying to compare a minor occurence during 787 program (which is on schedule so far, mind you) to the A380 fiasco. If you have somehow been spared from the news, search for “A380 delay” in Google and you’ll see what I mean. Now, I give full credit to Airbus for trying, and really, the plane is an outstanding feat… But the delays have got to stop, and changing CEO’s as if they were hats won’t do it.
Obviously, the customers (the airlines) are not pleased about the constant delays in the A380 program, and with a more than valid option offered by Boeing in the recently unveiled 747-8, there is really no reason to put up with such a mess.
To be honest, I’m no analyst; but I’ll be surprised if the A380 program does not turn out to be another white elephant in European aviation history, very much like the Concorde was to the consortium that built it back in the day.
Regardless of what happens with Airbus, however, one thing is for sure: the Boeing lineup for the next few years looks phenomenal, and should keep them ahead of the competition.
January 28, 2007 at 9:56 pm
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July 9, 2007 at 1:01 am
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