GUY NORRIS / LOS ANGELES
Boeing's 777-300ER is poised for certification and service entry early this year armed with better-than-predicted performance
Almost exactly four years after formally launching the long- range 777-200LR/300ER pair, Boeing is preparing to deliver the first of the family to International Lease Finance (ILFC) and the aircraft's initial operator Air France.
Battered by terrorism, war, disease and economic collapse over the past three years, the -300ER's long-range market is now showing signs of recovery. Despite recording only 68 firm orders for the pair so far, 777-200LR/300ER programme manager Lars Andersen is confident performance improvements revealed during flight tests will encourage new orders. "It sets us up nicely. It is very important that we're able to improve the range out to 7,700nm [14,250km] - it just increases the value of the aircraft in terms of revenue passengers and cargo on point-to-point services."
Although 63 of the current 68 acknowledged firm orders are for the -300ER, Andersen says the range/payload improvements seen on the stretched aircraft should also "read across" to the -200LR - thus providing a boost to marketing efforts for this slow-selling variant. Boeing expects to reach the 50% design release point on the -200LR in early February, with assembly starting later in the year and roll-out of the first aircraft in the first quarter of 2005. Two aircraft are expected to amass up to 500 ground-test hours and 700 flight hours over a six-month flight-test programme. First delivery to Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is set for January 2006, with subsequent deliveries to EVA Air and PIA in May, July, September and December that year.
The improvements to the -300ER have been substantial since its launch in February 2000. Maximum take-off weight (MTOW) has climbed by 11,350kg (25,000lb) to 351,850kg, while operating empty weight has decreased from an estimated 169,400kg to 168,700kg (Flight International, 9-15 December 2003). Design range has similarly increased from 13,280km (fuel volume limited) to 14,250km on the back of higher weight capability with fuel mileage performance up to 1.5% better than originally predicted. Part of the improvements have come from the better-than-expected drag-reducing cruise performance of the 2m (6.5ft) raked wingtip extensions (increasing span to 64.8m), and the low fuel burn of the General Electric GE90-115B engines.
The semi-levered main landing gear, advanced brakes and enhanced tailstrike protection (TSP) system also allow for shorter take-off field lengths of 3,200m at MTOW, versus 3,290m originally predicted. The result is more derated take-offs and increased payload or range from "challenging" airports, says Boeing, adding that typical field lengths are reduced by more than 300m. Of this, Boeing attributes more than 180m to the TSP and 120m to the better brakes. The TSP also results in approach speeds (at maximum landing weight of 251,500kg) of 150kt (277km/h), versus the 153kt originally predicted.
The initial production batch will be delivered with a set of interim performance characteristics including an MTOW of 344,860kg and a maximum range of 13,900km. Boeing says the aircraft will be upgradeable to the higher weight capability with the addition of a stronger tow fitting on the nose landing-gear leg, and stronger fuse pins on the main landing-gear lower chord stabilisation braces.
Early indications of the heavier weight capabilities were confirmed in May 2003 when aircraft WD501 established a new MTOW record for a twin-engined aircraft when it lifted off from Edwards AFB, California on a test flight at a weight of 351,300kg. At the time Boeing publicly had no plans to raise the MTOW for the -300ER beyond the limits due to be delivered in the initial production aircraft, but acknowledged the results supported its early 2003 decision to raise the target MTOW of the -200LR to 347,800kg.
With the first test airframe due to complete a final round of natural icing tests in the next few weeks, the focus is already shifting to the third test and first production aircraft, WD521. Having made its first flight on 10 January, WD521 is expected to add up to 160 flight and 240 ground-test hours to complete the 777-300ER flight and certification test effort. WD501 will join the second airframe, WD502, in refurbishment at Everett, where it has been since completing its contribution to the programme on 19 November 2003. The third aircraft is already fitted with a complete interior including crew rest areas in the upper lobe. Tests will focus on smoke detection and evacuation, environmental control system, full interior systems, radio interference, noise and function and reliability tests. "This aircraft will be busy the whole way through to late March with first of model and basic certification testing," says Andersen.
So far nine customers have signed for the longer-range models, including two leasing companies and seven airlines. The bulk of the first batch of aircraft will go to Air France, which is to take 16 of the first 26 aircraft due to be delivered between April 2004 and May 2005. Of this tally, 10 are being bought direct while a further six will be leased through ILFC. The two refurbished test aircraft, WD501 and WD502, are set for delivery to Japan Airlines (JAL) around July. JAL is to take eight -300ERs between July 2004 and July 2008.
Apart from Air France, the customers for the new twins are from Asia or the Middle East. Emirates, the largest customer for the -300ER, with 26 aircraft set for delivery between March 2005 and December 2008, is splitting its order between lessors ILFC and GECAS, which holds a slightly larger share of the overall total, with 14 aircraft.
EVA Air, like PIA, has ordered the -200LR and -300ER and is to take all four of its firm-order stretch variants between January and September 2005, while its three-200LRs are expected to be handed over between May and December 2006. PIA is to start taking the first of three -300ERs around October 2005, four months before its first -200LR. All Nippon Airways has six -300ERs on order, with deliveries expected to be spread over two years from December 2004 to December 2006. Beyond December 2008, positions are reserved for a further eight -300ERs for an unannounced customer, believed to be Singapore Airlines.
The current orderbook sees Boeing delivering 13 -300ERs (including the refurbished test aircraft) in 2004, 22 in 2005, 19 in 2006 (including five -200LRs), nine in 2007 and seven in 2008. However, with a successful flight-test effort behind it for the -300ER and good results expected for the -200LR in 2005, Boeing is optimistic of building the orderbook and build rate as the hoped-for point-to-point market is established.
Source: Flight International
