It’s 2012 and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner has delivered but only 3 aircraft so far.  There are tens of aircraft in Seattle and San Antonio requiring rework and change incorporation and the assembly line in South Carolina hasn’t cranked up yet either. 

By all reports, the 787 is exactly what airlines expected.  Note that I said “airlines” and not “airline passengers”.  For those of you that expected a transformational experience with the 787:  surprise.  This airliner was built for airlines, not you.  It was sold on its exceptional features for passengers, yes.  However, at the end of the day, it’s really a highly economical airliner for airlines.  In other words:  seat pitch isn’t going to change and the bigger windows, higher humidity and lower  cabin pressure don’t really add up to a shocking experience.  It’s better, no doubt.  However, I’ll bet that most don’t really notice a big difference except, perhaps, for the windows.

So, we’ve got a great airliner that should be transformational for airlines and there is just one problem:  Nobody has really gotten their 787s yet.  Airlines seem to have gone into a funk and accept that they’ll get theirs when they get theirs.  I’m not suggesting they have a choice at this point but I do wonder at why Boeing isn’t bearing brunt of at least a little more ire at the delays. 

My prediction:  Boeing will deliver no more than about 35 of these airliners by the end of the year.   There are still too many signs of Boeing not quite “getting it” when it comes to the need to push these airliners out the door.

Filed under: Aircraft Development by ajax
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