WCA March 2010

But Nelson Klug, an engineer who worked for both Boeing and Douglas Aircraft and who now is a director of the aviation consulting firm Avitas, Inc (Chantilly, Virginia), offered another analysis of the Boeing briefing document. He said the various totals listed – takeoff weight, landing weight, zero-fuel weight, and others – suggest weight growth in the basic empty airplane. “It’s not unreasonable to assume that the operating empty weight is about 10,000 pounds [5 tons] heavier than what was originally on the drawing board,” Mr Klug told the LA Times. Ultimately, of course, the arbiters of the weight issue will be the airline customers on Boeing’s order books. The first of these is to be Japan’s All Nippon Airways, which looks forward to delivery in the fourth quarter of this year. Meantime, the 787 must undergo nine months of further testing as well as earn Federal Aviation Administration certification. Boeing believes that its historic $10 billion plane – of which there were six in existence on 15 th December – will satisfy these expectations, as well as meet targets for range and payload and still deliver on the promise of an average 20% improvement over today’s airplanes in fuel efficiency. Among those professing full confidence in the Dreamliner are Boeing ❖ ❖ affiliates in India, credited by the US company with playing a significant role in its 787 programme. As reported on 26 th December by Swati Khandelwal, of CNBC-TV18, the launch in Seattle was “a big pat on the back” for HCL and the Tata Group, both of which Indian companies contributed components and technical support to the effort. India is also providing customers for the new plane. Air India is slated to take delivery of the first of the 27 Dreamliners it has on order in the second quarter of 2011. Jet Airways Ltd has ordered 10 of the big airliner but as yet has no firm delivery timeline. Extolling “the technologically-ad- vanced 787,” Boeing India president Dinesh Keskar told the TV channel in New Delhi that the plane will provide airlines with up to 45% more cargo capacity even as passengers enjoy cleaner air and larger windows, among other enhancements to the cabin environment. Ms Khandelwal noted that Boeing India is also betting on the Dreamliner “to help it fly out of the turbulent times that gripped the aviation sector in 2009.” Mr Keskar told her that his unit hopes to turn profitable by March 2010. To this end, the US parent company is investing $630 million in India. Ms Khandelwal said, “A portion of this will go towards Boeing’s getting more than a 30% share of the Indian defence market over the next 10 years. Boeing has also signed contracts with the Indian companies HAL, BEL, and Electronic Corp of India for the production of indigenous equipment for anti-submarine aircraft.” Elsewhere in aviation . . . Airlines in the US and in Asia have adopted remarkably dissimilar ❖ ❖ approaches to their wholly identical challenge: to retain – if possible, increase – ridership even while keeping down their costs. As travellers on US-based carriers face more privations and fees all the time (checking through a first bag typically costs $25; if prepaid online, $20), their counterparts in the Asia-Pacific region are being pampered as befits paying customers in an industry that according to the International Air Transport Association lost a combined $11 billion last year and faces losses up to $5.6 billion in 2010. One thing at least is certain. The Dreamliner flies.

34

Wire & Cable ASIA – March/April 2010