The Dreamliner

The Boeing 787 “Dreamliner” was designed due to a need that became apparent in the late 1990’s, to replace Boeing’s 767 and 747 aircraft. Production for the 787 did not begin until 2004, and the program has faced multiple issues and delays. An announcement of assembly was made in late 2003, but the aircraft did not experience its first flight until December of 2009.

            The Dreamliner is designed to be more efficient in terms of fuel and operations as opposed to current aircraft being used in the industry. As discussed in the aircrafts description and specifications on the Boeing website, link posted below. The 787 will be capable of carrying 210-250 passengers on routes of approximately 7650-8200 miles. Other variations of the aircraft, such as the 787-9 will be able to carry 250-290 passengers from 8000-8500 miles. It will use 20 percent less fuel than its counterparts operating today due to more efficient engines, its increased composite percentage, and decrease in aluminum materials.

            The first orders for this aircraft were placed in 2004, and since 821 aircraft from 56 countries have placed orders for the Dreamliner, totaling a value of about $145 billion. The first and only 787s thus far were delivered to Al Nippon Airways, Japan in September of this year.  But multiple other countries airlines as well as Continental, Delta, and United Airlines have placed orders that are anticipated to be delivered between 2012 and 2020.

            I believe this new aircraft will have a significant impact on many aspects of the aviation enterprise. These planes will make long distance routes reachable by mid sized aircraft and will travel with the same speed as the faster larger aircraft in use today. The more efficient the design the more I believe the manufacturer will move to producing one model of aircraft for each specific purpose. Use southwest for example and their all 737 fleet. This standardizes operations, training, and maintenance and they are a prime example of how effective that has been. I believe the competing manufacturer; in this case Airbus will do the same. If these aircraft are proven in the coming years to be as efficient as stated these companies will continue to receive orders and increase efforts on the production of theses aircraft. As far as the industry itself, I believe it would benefit from more standardization in models of aircraft in use. With the implementation of NextGen in the coming years, it would make sense to start equipping these new models with the necessary equipment, giving potential customers more interest in purchasing them. Although it would take years for companies to acquire a large number of these new expensive aircraft, in the long term I see the amount of aircraft models in use decreasing and a shift towards certain models becoming apparent.  

           

 http://www.boeing.com/commercial/787family/background.html