Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES
Boeing Commercial Airplanes is revising its twin-aisle development strategy because of the collapsing Asian market. The board is due to be briefed on the plan by 18 December.
Product development cost cuts ordered as a result of the downturn will affect key programmes, including the 747-X, 777-200X/300X and 767-400ERX. The entry-into-service date for the 777-200X/300X, originally September 2000, has already slipped to mid-2002 and could move to mid-2003 as part of the slowdown. John Roundhill, head of the recently formed Creation Center, under which product development activity is grouped, declines to speculate on the extent of the slippage. He says: "We haven't made any kind of decisions on timing, or moving it."
Roundhill confirms, however, that "-we are focused on 750,000lb [340,500kg maximum take-off weight]", representing a significant growth step from the original -200X/300X concepts that began life at around 322,340kg and gradually climbed to 333,700kg. The move, which reflects airline input, underlines the adoption of either more powerful main engines, or slightly bigger powerplants and an auxiliary power and thrust unit (APTU). Roundhill says: "We are looking at both options."
Another project expected to slip is the 747-X, along with proposed growth versions. Flight testing of the trailing edge wedge wing modification continues to take place, however, although Boeing declines to specify any results.
"We saw improvements in the area of 2% [reduced drag/improved fuel consumption] in the windtunnel, but we are not ready to commit to a percentage," says the company. Flight tests, on a 747-400 destined for Asiana, are due to be completed by the end of the year.
Boeing remains coy about the status of the 767-400ERX, a proposed longer-range derivative of the -400 currently in development. Roundhill says: "We are still in the process of doing an overall assessment and we are very close to a configuration that would take us to the next step. Now it's a question of when the market responds."
The proposed -400ERX would carry up to 7,580 litres (2,000USgal), of extra fuel in the horizontal tail, which would be made into a tank in a similar conversion to that made on the 747-400. The extra fuel would raise total capacity to around 99.000 litres and maximum take-off weight to at least 209,000kg from the present 204,000kg.
Source: Flight International
