Boeing has restarted 787 final assembly following a 24-manfacturing-day hold on deliveries of aircraft structure to final assembly.
Deliveries to the company's Everett, Washington, facility resumed on 6 June with the arrival of the aft fuselage section for Airplane 23, destined for Japan Airlines, as well as the horizontal stabiliser for Airplane 25, the first 787 to be built for Air India.
The forward fuselage from Spirit AeroSystems is expected to be delivered on 9 June, and centre fuselage from Boeing Charleston the following day.
Boeing halted deliveries on 27 April to allow its supply chain to catch up following part shortages and design changes, including a modification and re-work of aluminium shear ties in the unpressurised parts of the aft fuselage.
Before deliveries were halted in April, Boeing was taking delivery to final assembly of roughly two new airframes per month, that pace is expected to continue with the arrival of the latest sections. In the interim, the airframer continued work on the 16 production aircraft already in Everett.
First delivery is slated for November or December to launch customer All Nippon Airways.
Programme sources say the airframer hopes to be at around three 787s per month by September and just over 3.5 by the end of first quarter 2011.
Boeing will continue its march to ramping 787 production to 10 aircraft per month by 2013, with first delivery from the company's new North Charleston, South Carolina, line expected in the first quarter of 2012.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
