Tuesday, December 18, 2012

787 production update

As we approach the Holiday week, Boeing will be going into a slow down mode as is the custom around this time of the year.  There have been moves of late which I'll highlight here.

Boeing has moved out ZA274 (LN 88, SP-LRE) for LOT and ZA184 (LN 89, JA830J) for Japan Airlines.  They moved ZA513 (LN97, JA819A) for ANA into the body-wing join in 40-24 to start final assembly.  This is the last aircraft that will start final assembly in 2012. I expect it to be delivered sometime around middle to late February 2013.

Boeing also moved ZA232 (LN 28, VT-ANC) to the EMC to begin the change incorporation process for this airframe prior to delivery to Air India sometime next year.

I have also updated the tables to reflect the firing order for airplanes 116 to 130. The highlight of this list is ZB001 (LN126) which is the first 787-9 to go into final assembly.

There are a couple of things that caught my attention when I saw the list.  Boeing is assembling this aircraft on the 40-24 surge line and not on the main assembly line in 40-26.  Second, Boeing has diverted the final assembly of the 787-8s from 40-24 and is concentrating the production of customer aircraft in 40-26 and 88-03 in Charleston.  This is obviously in case they run into issues during final assembly of the first 787-9 that there aren't any bottlenecks in 787-8 production.  They are leaving themselves enough margin, it seems, to address issues with assembling the 787-9.  There will be a 3 airframe margin in front of the ZB001 and at least a 4 frame margin behind the aircraft as it makes it way through the final assembly stations in 40-24.

I don't have any information on follow on 787-9 frames just as yet but Boeing is believed to be planning for a 3 aircraft test fleet for the 787-9 with the test program lasting about 6 months.  I roughly estimate that ZB001 should enter the final assembly building around June 13, 2013.  Boeing has said the aircraft will start final assembly during the summer.  Since this is a brand new variant, I am assuming at least 6 weeks for final assembly and another 6 weeks for ground testing before first flight.  This would mean that this airplane can be flying around the middle of September, 2013.

On the firing order nothing stands out though we do get to see the first 787 for JetStar going through final assembly as well as the first 2 787s for Royal Brunei Airlines.  The Royal Brunei Order is listed as unidentified on Boeing's Order and Delivery website but they did order  787-8s with Trent-100 engines.  The airlines says that they are expecting to take delivery of the 1st 787 in early September 2013. This list as it stands now would cover deliveries through early September, 2013.








15 comments:

Unknown said...

LN123 QANTAS.....finally!!

Will ZB001 eventually be delivered to Air NZ? That was the original plan wasn't it?

Unknown said...

LN123 QANTAS.....finally!!

Will ZB001 eventually be delivered to Air NZ? That was the original plan wasn't it?

TurtleLuv said...

Charleston's situation is really depressing. They have 4 AI planes sitting on the flight line. They've got 3 Hainan planes either hidden in storage or in final assembly. Then they're gonna put together a 5th AI plane. Then they're gonna build 3 China Southern planes. That's 11 planes, almost a years worth, that their customers seem to have no interest in picking up. And god help them when they build the Qatar plane after that, because then they'll have the pleasure of dealing with Admiral Akbar.

Maybe China Southern will come around in time. I noticed they have new slots assigned, but AI doesn't, at least through line 130. Nor Hainan. Is Boeing finally sick of AI's nonsense? A part of me wishes they'd tell AI to pound sand, paint the planes a different livery and sell them to someone who can run a business.

TurtleLuv said...

Cawby just tweeted that Hainan line 73 is back on the flight line. So maybe the Chinese carrier stalemate is over.

Fedupjohn said...

Uresh,
Just curious, do you know when LN20 & LN21 went into the EMC?
Thanks.

Trapperpk said...

The AI non pick-up is an AI money problem that seems to angle towards a Boeing's production issues, which results in AI having serious problems executing its business plan, therefore Boeing is causing AI a great delay in gaining financing for buying Boeing Aircraft. I hope you followed this logic well because that is what I got out of the Indian press on why its Boeing's fault that AI is a total failure. The Marx Brothers couldn't have reported it better.



Uresh said...

Unfortunately I don't.

CX880 said...

According from Matt Cawby's photo, ZA430 (B-2728) is also back from storage to the KPAE flight line. Any news on these Chinese birds. Thanks

HK Expat said...

Hi Uresh - are you sure the 4 TUI frames are all going to Thomson. TUI indicating that Jetairfly and TUIfly Nordic should also be getting frames next year as well. Also Thomson routes loaded until Nov 2013 require only 2 frames.
Cheers
A

johnv777 said...

Uresh, to answer Fedupjohn's question about LN 20 & 21:
LN20:
May 2010 - ATS hanger Storage
Jul 2010 to May 2012 - Various locations including Kilo North, Paint Hanger, Flightline, 40-51, RWY 11-29
Jun 2012 - 40-24
Late July 2012 EMC

LN21:
May 2010 - ATS Hanger Storage
July 2010 - to May 2012, Various locations including Flightline, Kilo North, 40-24, RWY 11-29
May 2012 - 40-51 apron
June 2012 - EMC bay AW
Late June 2012 - EMC Pos 3
Aug 2012 - RWY 11/29
Sept 2012 - 40-24
NOV 2012 - EMC Bay D


Brent said...

Looks like one of the Qatar frames is delivered and heading out to Vacaville today. http://flightaware.com/live/flight/QTR999

Unknown said...

So todays deliveries were LOT got their 2nd, ANA their 17th, JAL their 7th, and VT-ANK to AI?

Johanny said...

And one more maybe:
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/UAL6858

Macius said...

I'm affraid, that something bad happened to your spreadsheet. It's sorted by LN, but for some reason 1 is followed by 11 and so on, not 2, or 3...

Fedupjohn said...

WOW! Are you funning with us ,making it hard for us to read the spreadsheet. LOL