Boeing’s vice-president of marketing Randy Tinseth describes the recent sales performance of the 777 widebody as simply “magic”.
He says: “In the past 30 months we have sold 290 777s.” This is approaching a third of total 777 sales to date giving the aircraft a backlog of more than 320 units. “We have also added 15 new customers to our customer base in this time,” adds Tinseth.
In total, the 777 has won 963 orders since it was launched in 1990 with an order from United Airlines. The 777 family now includes five passenger airliners and a freighter version. The airliners seat from 301 to 368 passengers in a three-class cabin.
The freighter version was launched in May 2005 with an order from Air France for five of the type. To date, Boeing has 71 orders for the 777 Freighter from 11 customers, including Emirates, FedEx Express, Qatar Airways and Korean Air. The first 777 Freighter will be delivered to Air France in the fourth quarter of 2008.
More capacity
The aircraft is designed to complement 747 cargo operations with the ability to transfer shipments directly between the two aircraft. The main cargo door of the 777 Freighter will be sized to accommodate 3m high pallets for easy interlining with 747 freighters.
In the run-up to Paris, Boeing announced that its engineers have completed 50% of the design for the new freighter. This means detailed designs have been released to Boeing factories and its suppliers to begin building parts, assemblies and tools.
Boeing claims the 777 Freighter will provide more capacity than any other twin-engine freighter and the lowest trip cost of any large freighter. It has a revenue payload capability of 104 tonnes and a range of more than 9,000km with a full payload and general cargo market densities, making it the longest-range twin-engine freighter.
Once the first 777 Freighters are delivered Boeing will start to look at some of the improvements made to the aircraft’s design during this programme and at whether they should be incorporated into the passenger version, says Tinseth.
Boeing is addressing the mid-sized widebody market with both the 787 and the 777. It doubts whether Airbus can address this market with one family of three aircraft in the shape of the A350XWB. “We’re still struggling to see what the A350 is, and our customers are still struggling,” says Tinseth. “They [Airbus] are just starting the design process.”
Source: Flight Daily News
