787

Contracts have been signed, funds have been transferred and flight testing is complete. All is in readiness for the hand-over of the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner destined for commercial use. Boeing will mark the occasion with a delivery ceremony at its 787 factory in Everett, Washington, this morning before launch customer All Nippon Airways (ANA) flies its newest acquisition to Tokyo on Tuesday at 6:35 a.m. Read More

It's been bent, scraped along the runway, frozen to -42 degrees C, flown over 1700 flights and spent almost 5000 hours in the air - now the 787 Dreamliner has completed the final flight tests required for type certification with Rolls-Royce engines. Read More

The 787 Dreamliner is edging closer to delivery. Sporting the special livery of launch customer ANA , Boeing rolled the first aircraft destined for commercial service out of its paint hangar in Everett, Washington, on Saturday. Following delays of around two years, the mid-size airliner is expected to make its first passenger carrying flight - a special commemorative charter from Tokyo to Hong Kong - about a month after delivery to ANA in September. Read More

One of the most anticipated commercial airplanes in recent years made an appearance at the 49th Paris Airshow this week. The first flight-test 787 Dreamliner (ZA001) spent two days on static display on the tarmac at Le Bourget and will take a short tour through Europe before returning to the U.S. Read More

The aircraft with one of the world's most recognizable silhouettes turned 40 a couple of years ago. That's getting long in the tooth even in an industry whose products use the grandpa's axe principle like no other – as in, it's had six new heads and four new handles, but grandpa still loves that axe. But is Boeing's 747 looking towards the pasture? Not on Boeing's life. The company just this week announced the successful maiden flight of the 747-8 Intercontinental, the passenger version of a plane that takes the grandpa's axe principle to new extremes. Over more than three decades, the 747 evolved from the original 100 series through 200, 300 and 400 series, integrating technological upgrades and spawning new variants along the way. NASA even uses one, the SR, to piggyback space shuttles into the air. Read More

If you've ever felt a little queasy watching your plane's wings flex under the strain of being at 10,000 feet, rest assured that they can bend a lot further. Just how much pressure modern airliner wings can take is demonstrated by the latest 787 Dreamliner news from Boeing. During a recent "ultimate-load wing up-bending test," the 787 was subjected to loads 150 percent greater than it can expect to endure during service with the wings flexed upward by approximately 25 feet (7.6 meters) over a period of two hours. Read More

The 787 Dreamliner successfully completed its maiden test flight in December and now the interior design of Boeing's next-gen aircraft has been revealed. The officially released photo shows the partially decked-out interior featured on the third of six flight test airplanes. While certainly sleek, at first glance there's nothing overly radical about the layout, though Boeing says it will give passengers greater comfort with its "dynamic lighting, larger lavatories, more spacious luggage bins and electronic window shades whose transparency they can change during flight." Read More

Citing disruption caused by the recent Machinists' strike along with the need to replace certain fasteners in early production airplanes, Boeing has announced a set-back to the much anticipated first flight of its 787 Dreamliner. The new-generation composite commercial airliner is now scheduled for its first flight in the second quarter of 2009 with first deliveries in Q1 2010. Read More

Soaring oil prices might be putting the squeeze on margins for airlines around the world, but that hasn't deterred United Arab Emirates national carrier Etihad from splurging more than $20 billion on orders for Boeing and Airbus aircraft. Read More