Boeing Debuts the Dreamliner

Something very special happened on this Sunday, July 8th, 2007.  

Boeing rolled out the 787 Dreamliner. Boeing hosted a global webcast debuting the aircraft, including Boeing employees, vendors and global partners.  I watched it live on-line and it was exciting.  Former NBC anchorman Tom Brokaw hosted the Seattle festivities.    While the airplane itself is exciting, the most exciting part of this airplane is the global effort to produce this airliner. This is the worlds first commercial airliner composed of composite materials and technologies that are truly produced globally. 

Hundreds of vendors participate in the construction of the revolutionary B787 and unique delivery methods come with that. Boeing developed a special B747 "Dreamlifter" designed to carry fuselage sections of the Dreamliner to Everett, Washington where the B787 is assembled.

The 787 is the largest selling airliner for the future.  Over 600 aircraft have been sold already. 47 airlines from 25 countries have purchased the 787. The launch customer for the B787 is All Nippon Airways. ANA will receive their first Dreamliner in May, 2008.  Boeing's latest order was for an additional 25 787's from Air Berlin  was announced on July 7th.  Numerous large orders still hang in the balance. Delta Airlines may order as many as 100 aircraft once it decides between the Airbus A350 and the 787 later this year.

"Boeing's timing could not be better because service life retirement of the highly successful B767 drives the market."

Check out the great video below from flightblogger.blogspot.com depicting 787 development milestones.

(Note: Some corporate proxy servers ban video from youtube.com.  If you see white space below...you may be on such a network.  Please revisit from home or a connection that does not go through your company VPN.)

The B787 is part of a long line of historic 7 series aircraft. In tribute to that fact, Boeing hosted a fly off today of historic Boeing jets.  These included an Omega Air 707; AirTran Airways 717; FedEx 727; Alaska Airlines 737-800; Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 Flying Test Bed 747-200; Continental Airlines 757; Delta Air Lines 767; and Air France 777-300ER (Extended Range). The Boeing 747-400 Dreamlifter was also on static display.

More details about the B787 Dreamliner can be found at Boeings 787 new airplane web site.

Eric

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