Manufacturer open to suggestions on broader based logistics for the eventual fleet
Boeing has revealed further details of its operational and modification plans for the 747 Large Cargo Freighter (LCF) that will transport sections of the 787 from worldwide suppliers to the final assembly line in Everett.
Boeing is searching for an operator for the eventual fleet of three LCFs, says 787 manufacturing and quality vice president Scott Strode. "We're going on the street with proposals, and we are primarily looking at operators with an existing experience base flying 747s."
Strode adds that Boeing is "open to companies to suggest broader-based logistical scenarios. We are open in terms of strategy and letting the market point out where we go." An operator will be selected by year-end, around the time the first aircraft, an ex-China Airlines 747-400, is scheduled to be "inducted" for conversion by Evergreen Aviation Technologies, the EVA Air and General Electric joint venture selected for the role (Flight International, 22-28 February). The first LCF is due to fly in Taiwan in mid-2006. Two more 747LCFs will follow, with all three expected to be in service by 2009.
The Boeing-led design work for the modification is divided between the Boeing Design Center in Moscow and Gamesa Aeronautica of Spain. Engineers from the Canoga Park, California offices of Boeing Rocketdyne, which is being sold to Pratt & Whitney, will also participate. The Moscow office is designing the bulk of the LCF with responsibility for the new upper fuselage, main cargo deck floor and transition zone between the new structure and the unchanged lower fuselage.
GUY NORRIS / LOS ANGELES
Source: Flight International
