Major sections of the first 787-10 have been delivered to Boeing’s final assembly site in North Charleston, South Carolina, Boeing confirms.
The mid- and aft-body sections are ready to be loaded into Position 0, as soon as elements such as the forward fuselage arrive.
Made with sections manufactured by Kawasaki and Fuji in Japan, Leonardo in Italy and Boeing at another facility in North Charleston, the first 787-10 is finally taking shape about 3.5 years after the programme launched in June 2013. The nose section will be delivered from Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita, Kansas, while the wings will be shipped from Mitsubishi in Japan.
The 787-10 will be assembled exclusively in North Charleston, as the stretched centre fuselage is too large to transport to Everett, Washington, in the converted 747-400 DreamLifter.
Boeing plans to begin a year-long flight test campaign for the 787-10 next year ahead of a scheduled entry into service in 2018.
Stretched by 5.47m (18ft) compared to the 787-9 to carry 330 passengers, he type has collected 154 firm orders from 10 customers, including two leasing companies.
Though longer than the 787-9, it shares 95% of the same part numbers, according to Boeing. Notable differences are a 777-style, semi-levered landing gear and 76,000lb-thrust versions of the GE Aviation GEnx-2B and Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
