First Boeing 787 flight is on a lot of minds

Published 9:09 pm Sunday, April 26, 2009

When will the Boeing Co.’s 787 fly?

It’s one of several questions weighing on the minds of Snohomish County residents and Boeing observers around the world. The company recently has made progress on its delayed 787 Dreamliner, conducting a series of initial tests required before first flight. The first 787 is expected to move to the flight line at Paine Field this week for additional testing.

Also this week, the company has invited journalists to view the first 787 jet and learn more about what will take place during the flight test program. Last week, Boeing officials reiterated their plan to put the Dreamliner in the air by the end of June and deliver the first 787 in early 2010, nearly two years late.

To cast your vote in a poll on when the Dreamliner will take its first flight, go to cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet.

Last week’s poll

Will the Boeing Co. stay or will it go?

Last November, Scott Carson, president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, planted a seed of concern in the minds of state lawmakers and business leaders, telling them: “location is a choice.”

Just a month earlier, during the Machinists strike against Boeing, analyst Richard Aboulafia, with the Teal Group, predicted the company would exit the Puget Sound region over the next decade.

On Wednesday, local analyst Scott Hamilton, with Leeham Co., warned the Snohomish County business community that Boeing not only could locate a second production for its 787 Dreamliner elsewhere, but the company also may move the original 787 line in Everett to a new site. The analyst suggested that Boeing may pull the plug on aircraft production in the Puget Sound region by 2020 if lawmakers don’t take action.

The Herald asked readers to take part in an unscientific poll on the Boeing Co.’s future in Washington.

Here are the results:

16 percent (48 votes): Boeing has no intention of leaving Washington state and merely is engaging in scare tactics.

19 percent (58 votes): The company will keep 787 production (both lines) here only if lawmakers make major changes.

39 percent (119 votes): The company begins moving out of Washington by putting a second 787 line elsewhere.

26 percent (81 votes): Boeing will be out of Washington entirely by 2020.

Herald readers also recently weighed in on a similar topic.

In March, the Legislature called for an aerospace competitiveness study as a means of determining how Washington stacks up to other states should Boeing need a second line for its 787. Herald readers were asked where Boeing would build its second 787 production line.

Here are those results:

Washington: 23 percent (375 votes)

Texas: 21 percent (339)

The Carolinas: 17 percent (280)

Boeing doesn’t need a second line: 16 percent (264)

Alabama: 11 percent (179)

Foreign country: 10 percent (165)

West Virginia: 1 percent (14)