Flight International online news 14:00GMT: Boeing is considering ramping-up 787 production from 2009 as it struggles to find available slots for prospective customers. Orders and commitments for the new twinjet are now said to have exceeded 850. 
Details of the growing firm order list, comprising 256 aircraft for 21 customers, emerged as the first all-composite nose test section was rolled out by Spirit AeroSystems – the former Boeing Commercial Airplanes aerostructures operation in Wichita, Kansas.
A major part of the decision rests on investment needed throughout the supply chain, and whether or not to invest beyond current plans. The infrastructure is being developed to support a three-day final assembly cycle time at Boeing’s Everett factory near Seattle, with 747 Large Cargo Freighters delivering parts to enable a rate of up to seven a month by around 2011.
The rate question is complicated by the amount of extra investment required by the partners and suppliers.
Spirit, for example, will deliver "stuffed" Section 41 forward fuselage subassemblies, including full flightdecks, avionics and even nose gears already installed.
The first test barrel measures 7.25m (24ft) long by 5.7m-wide, and will be followed by two more test units, including a final 12.8m-long section representative of the production configuration.
The first actual production Section 41 will be flown to Everett in April 2007. Spirit is also responsible for the engine pylons, the first of which will be delivered in July 2006, and moveable leading edges that will be handed over for the first time in March 2007.
GUY NORRIS/WICHITA
Source: Flight International
