Is Boeing 787 a failure?

Jun. 28—After debuting in 2011, Boeing Co.'s 787 Dreamliner has become popular among the world's airlines. But heightened scrutiny both inside and outside the company in recent years has revealed a number of production flaws and largely prevented it from delivering new Dreamliner jets for nearly two years.



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The Dreamliner is a successful aircraft, still in production with more than 1600 delivered or on order. The list price for a new Boeing 787-8 is $239 million dollars. Yet even as international travel opens again for these long-range aircraft, two Dreamliners barely ten years old are waiting for the wrecker's ball.

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The 787's latest problem mirrors production issues discovered over 2020 and 2021 that included improperly fitted shimming that led to paper-thin gaps between surfaces on the Dreamliner's fuselage.

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“In reviewing certification records, Boeing discovered an analysis error by our supplier related to the 787 forward pressure bulkhead,” said the company, referring to the portion of a plane at its nose that maintains the pressurized conditions in the cabin.

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The flagship widebodies have been very successful with customers. This century has been dominated by two flagship widebodies, the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350. Built with new components, carrying the most efficient engines, and with exceptional range, they represent the best of innovation from both planemakers.

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The Bottom Line: The Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 787-9 are very similar aircraft, suited for similar missions. As one would expect, the slightly larger A350-900 has a seat-mile cost advantage, while the 787-9 has an advantage in cost per block hour. These aircraft are competitive, and nearly tie in economic performance.

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To start the Boeing 777 vs 787 comparison, we must say that the 787 is a more fuel efficient aircraft than the 777 thanks to its use of composite wings and more aerodynamically efficient design.

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The Boeing 787 is one of the newest planes to come into passenger service. First delivered in 2011, the aircraft has become a favorite for airlines thanks to its extensive range and fuel efficiency. And, for passengers, the travel experience was much better compared to older aircraft.

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The 787 was designed to be the first production airliner with the fuselage comprising one-piece composite barrel sections instead of the multiple aluminum sheets and some 50,000 fasteners used on existing aircraft. Boeing selected two new engines to power the 787, the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 and General Electric GEnx.

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The latest issue affects a fitting assembly in horizontal stabilizers built by a Boeing facility in Salt Lake City. The fittings come from an external supplier, and each unit is assembled and installed onto stabilizers in Salt Lake, a Boeing source said.

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The 737 is for short and medium haul routes with high competition. The planes are relatively economical to fly and are perfect for smaller airports. The 787 is a much more expensive and larger airplane. It's made for extremely long and thin routes.

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2 Boeing 787 Dreamliner The Dreamliner's lightweight composite structure contributes to reduced noise levels, both inside and outside the aircraft. The use of advanced soundproofing materials and quieter engines keeps the cabin environment more tranquil for passengers.

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While passengers love the experience in the back, it's also a great place for the pilots to work. A number of features on the aircraft set it apart from other aircraft types. So, even when your working day can be 19 hours long, I'd much rather be doing it in a Dreamliner than any other type.

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The Dreamliner has been a phenomenally expensive airplane to build. In its decade of deliveries, Boeing has earned back about half of the more than $28 billion in 787 production costs it has consistently reassured Wall Street it will recover.

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Did you know that the 787 can deploy a propellor underneath its fuselage? It's called a RAT.

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The carbon-fibre structure of the 787 allows the aircraft to be pressurized to a much higher level than on many other aircraft types. The lower the cabin altitude, the better you feel both during and after the flight, allowing your body to adjust to your new time zone more quickly.

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The more-electric architecture of the 787 Dreamliner family eliminates the pneumatic and bleed-air system. The electric system improves efficiency by extracting only the power actually needed during each phase of flight.

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The 747-400 uses 10 tons of fuel per hour. The 787 uses five tons per hour. With such a massive difference, it's clear why the sky is full of 787s at the moment and not 747s. However, with 40 years of technological improvement between the two models, it's not surprising that 787 performs so much better.

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On board the Boeing 787-9, you can expect a new, comfortable travel experience and many innovations that will make your flight even more relaxing in the future. Look forward to the Dreamliner effect on your next trip.

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Both planes are under 10 years old, as they were delivered in June and August 2013. Except for a testbed scrapped by Boeing in 2018, these are the first Dreamliners to be retired, and their disassembly, which began in early March, is taking place at Prestwick Airport near Glasgow, Scotland.

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Passenger count In terms of capacity, it is abundantly clear that the A380 can carry significantly more passengers than any 787 variant. With 525 passengers in a standard, three-class configuration, the A380 has a sizeable advantage over the Boeing 787-10, which seats 323 passengers across three classes.

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We can see that the smaller variants of the 787 have a better range than the larger 787-10. In fact, the mid-sized 787-9 even outranks the A380. However, in terms of the comparison to the larger 787-10, the A380 appears, on paper, to be the more flexible aircraft on account of its longer range.

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This is quite probably the reason for the popularity of the mid-sized Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, which offers its operators a very useful balance of both range and capacity. This mirrors the Boeing 737 MAX family, whereby the MAX 8 model (which is the second-largest of four variants) is by far the most popular version.

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