Air India 787 to perform at Paris Air Show

This is plain speculation on my part but Boeing may be prepping ZA242 (LN 90, VT-ANN) for Air India to put on a flying display at this years Paris Air Show in mid June.  The aircraft flew to Boeing Field last week then flew a flight on Friday at BOE787.  I believe that this flight was practice flight for an aerial demonstration at the show. Given the flight number it flew under is normally reserved for special marketing flights or for air show flights, I feel that this is strong evidence that this aircraft will by at the Paris Air Show.  If so this aircraft probably won't be delivered to Air India until mid to late June.

787 in Farnborough

Thanks to Jon Ostrower and Flightglobal for the video

Boeing announced the arrival of the 787 at the Farnborough International Air Show after the aircraft, ZA003 (flying as BOE787), landed a the Farnborough Field after a nine and a half hour flight. This is the international debut of the 787. Boeing said the crew and test engineers aboard conduct flight test along the way. Here's Boeing's press release:

News Release Issued: July 18, 2010 11:34 AM EDT

Boeing 787 Dreamliner Makes International Debut

FARNBOROUGH, United Kingdom, July 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Boeing (NYSE: BA) 787 Dreamliner made its international debut landing at the Farnborough Airport at 9:09 a.m. (local time) in support of the Farnborough International Airshow that begins Monday.

"It's an honor to showcase the 787 here at the Farnborough Airshow," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "I can't think of a finer stage on which to present this highly anticipated airplane."

This is the first international trip made by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The airplane came via nonstop flight to Farnborough, U.K., from Seattle.

"We took advantage of the flying time to conduct some flight testing on the way," Fancher said. "We're taking every opportunity to complete our testing requirements when we fly."

The 787 Dreamliner is built by an international team and will provide airlines around the globe with a new level of efficiency in operations, with a 20 percent reduction in fuel use when compared to similar-sized airplanes. The 787 also brings a new level of passenger comfort to travelers including bigger windows and more personal space as well as an environment designed to help them arrive at their destinations feeling refreshed.

Boeing executives and members of the board of directors, dignitaries from the United States and U.K. and a wide variety of media were on hand to welcome Captains Mike Bryan and Ted Grady as they stepped off the airplane and welcomed visitors aboard. About a dozen people traveled on the airplane to conduct testing during the flight.

Fancher and other Boeing executives will provide a media briefing on the 787 at the airshow's main press chalet at 10 a.m. (local time). The airplane, referred to as ZA003, will depart Tuesday afternoon, July 20.

Saj Ahmad of Fleetbuzzeditorial.com got some nice photos of the 787 at Farnborough

Saj Ahmad: Boeing 787-8 Debuts At Farnborough

Seven Months In...787 Flight Test Update

As BOE787 (ZA003) is winging its way over Canada, the North Atlantic and on to Farnborough, questions have arisen over the current pace of flight testing in the 787 program an whether Boeing can increase the pace of flight tests in order to deliver the first 787s to ANA on time by the end of this year.

Scott Fancher has raised a yellow flag of caution late last week by saying that delivery may slip by a few weeks into January of 2011. Now a few weeks in the whole scheme of things is really nothing and in context of the more than two and a half years of delays in program it's a few raindrops in a lake, however, what is concerning is that pace still has not risen to what it needs to be even if Boeing hopes to delivery in January, 2011.

As of July 14th and completing 7 full months of flight testing, the Test Flight Fleet has amassed over 1,162 flight hours. This is not even 40% of the required 3,100 flight hours that Boeing needs to certify both the Rolls Royce and GE versions of the 787. If Boeing hopes to certify at least the Rolls Royce version, they've got over over 1,200 flight test hours to complete over the next four and half months...that's pace of over 266 flight hours per month the Rolls Royce powered airplanes...not an easy task given the current pace of test flights. In June Boeing flew only 49 test flight though they did fly for over 209 flight hours. This still is down from the previous month (May) where Boeing flew 104 flights and accumulated over 349 flight hours. July is not looking much better with over 96 flight hours flown thus far.

Another area of concern is that the GE powered 787s are due to be delivered to some major airlines such as JAL, Air India, RAM and Continental but only one of the GE powered aircraft is flying (and flying a lot). The last GE powered 787, ZA006 is still on the ground and program sources have told me it may not fly until early September. It does seem to me that there will be a delay in delivering the GE powered airplanes to customers as a little over 9% of the needed GE fight hours have been flown and the second airplane that's needed won't be off the ground until early September. The pace of test flight on ZA005 will be watched to see if Boeing can get the GE powered 787 certified in time. Of course the pacing item will still be getting the over 2400 hours on the Rolls powered airplanes completed by early December at the very latest.

You can check out my latest tracking of the 787 test flight progress below:

ZA003 to fly to Farnborough this evening

Boeing has filed the flight plan for it's third 787 to fly to Farnborough in the first transcontinental flight of the 787 since test flights began 7 months ago. Usually ZA003 flies under the flight number of BOE003 but for this special occaision the 787 is flying there and back under the flight number of BOE787. The flight plan calls for an expected arrival time of 7:30 AM on Sunday morning but Boeing has said the airplane will arrive at about 9 AM. The difference is due to test flying around the North Pole to test the inertial navigation system where ZA003 will fly in figure 8s and then proceed to Farnborough Field.

Thsi will be the first 787 flight abroad and this appearance at the show is of huge importance to Boeing to demonstrate that the program is past the hurdles that have plauged to program for the past two and a half years despite the warning from Scott Fancher that deliveries MAY slide into 2011. I will be putting up another post reviewing hte test flight program to date in a day or so so more on that issue in that post.