GUY NORRIS / SEATTLE
Launch expected in 2004 once customers have been secured for new widebody twinjet
Boeing is expected to move quickly to formally launch the 7E7 with firm orders from airlines after company board approval for authority to offer (ATO) the new aircraft on 15 December. Boeing confirmed the selection of the Everett plant, where the 747, 767 and 777 are built, as the site for 7E7 final assembly.
Although circumspect about launch criteria, Boeing Commercial Airplanes president Alan Mulally says "we might have some major customers step up early and order the airplane". Dropping hints that it may move to close the gap between ATO and full launch, a period of 10 months for the 777, Mulally says "we are conferring with 50 or so airlines" adding that go-ahead will be "sooner rather than later".
Production will be initiated with either the Baseline 7E7 or Japanese-led Short Range version, says Boeing. But company senior vice-president sales Larry Dickenson downplays rumours that All Nippon Airways or Japan Airlines are about to place orders. "It is not going to be near-term, I can assure you. We will be working diligently with our customers in Japan, but it is going to be a long process, just as it will be for all the other airlines of Asia." Dickenson is optimistic about the long-term market potential for the 7E7 in the region, which will require over 400 new aircraft just to replace the 767-200/300 and Airbus A310/A330 fleets.
Boeing president Harry Stonecipher - keen to use the ATO announcement to reiterate his support for the 7E7 - adds that the planned 1.5h board meeting lasted 4h. "We could have got the vote in the first 10 minutes, but the board wanted to know about the changes."
Forthcoming programme milestones include the major system selections around March/April, with the engine finalists being decided around the same timeframe, says 7E7 programme vice-president Mike Bair. "Most of it will be done by summer," he says, adding that talks are continuing independently with all three engine manufacturers. With launch expected in 2004, firm design configuration is due in the first quarter of 2005 with assembly starting in 2006, first flight in 2007 and certification and entry into service in 2008.
Source: Flight International
