787 Follow Up - Feb. 19th

It looks like Boeing is on track to get Dreamliner 4 in the air by early next week, perhaps around Monday Feb. 22nd. Boeing still has to finish gauntlet testing and conduct taxi tests prior to first flight. Stay tuned on that. Additionally, Dreamliner 3 should be in the air about a week later.

Flightblogger has an article out about the Boeing finalizing the 787-9 in about 4 months from now pending successful completion of the ultimate load test on the 787-8 wing. Both the -8 and the -9 version will share the same wing which means less fuel but Boeing still plans to have greater range with the larger payload for the 787-9 because of weight saving improvements that will be incorporated into the 787 at different block points.

Flightblogger: Boeing to finalize 787-9 in June