767: I'm Not Dead Yet!

While the 787 has been stealing a lot of the limelight (and not all of it complementary) the 767 the plane that the Dreamliner was supposed to replace had garnered only 2 orders and 5 cancellations for a net of -3 orders on the year. But today ANA (the launch customer for the 787) redressed the insult and put the 767 back into positive territory. (Unlike the other Seattle Team - the Seahawks who had a disgraceful showing yesterday).

With the certification process now underway for the 787 and a target of nearly 9 months to obtain approval - the Chicago based plane maker needs to keep things positive. The 787 after one of the most aggressive sales programs in history and a very healthy order book actually experienced a net loss of 70 orders this year. Airbus correspondingly gained 22 orders for the year for its A350 family.

I suspect we may see a resurgence in orders for the 767 as a stopgap to replace existing short falls of 787. But the likely continued winner will be the A330. The Airbus wide twins (OK and the smattering of 240s) have a backlog of nearly 900 aircraft.

And with an acknowledgement to Mr Idle and Company for the image and quote.

Cheers

787 Power on - FINALLY

So Boeing managed to turn on the lights. Finally one built (and rebuilt and rebuilt...) 787 actually works with electricity. I wonder if they can turn it off ;-)

This is very good news for Boeing if for no other reason than it is a great morale booster.

There are challenges ahead. The most significant is that all the customers are being told to plan for significant delivery delays. In the case of a small airline - though an early buyer - the date for delivery for Monarch is now 2013. Ouch!

The gap between the projected deliveries and the full on production is a gaping hole. There is a significant capacity gap in the 767/330/787 sector, new builds are scarce and Boeing is being tight-lipped about any 767 production rate ramp up. With the Tanker decision again about 12 months away, Boeing is going to be in no hurry to add capacity to this sector. As Airbus has seen with the recent inability to reach Wave 2 for the A380 - this logistics thing is not easy.

What can be learned from this? Lots of things. Now I guess we all understand why Microsoft is/was always late with its versions of Windows.

Cheers

Timothy