Workers at the Boeing Co.’s Everett factory have begun assembling the second flight test 787 Dreamliner, the company said Friday.
Due to problems in its global supply chain and parts shortages, Boeing has fallen almost a year behind schedule on its fast-selling Dreamliner. The company announced its first official setback in September. Another delay followed in October, the latest in January.
Even as early as September, Boeing officials acknowledged that the second flight test 787 could be the first to fly. Workers in Everett have struggled to replace temporary parts installed by Boeing’s partners with permanent ones. And the amount of incomplete work sent by the suppliers has proven more comprehensive and complicated than Boeing anticipated.
Boeing officials have said they will provide a new delivery schedule in April but have maintained that a 787 will make its first flight by the end of the second quarter.
Here’s Boeing’s press release:
Final assembly started today on the second flight-test airplane for the all-new Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Loaded snugly into the first position of the 787 production system, workers in the Everett, Wash.-based factory can now begin joining together the fuselage sections and wings. All major joins take place in this position. While this is the second of six flight-test airplanes, this Dreamliner is actually the fourth on the production line. It follows the two airplanes that will be used for static and fatigue testing.
“We’ve received significantly less ‘traveled work’ on this airplane,” said Steve Westby, vice president of 787 Final Assembly and Change Incorporation. “The degree of completeness of sections at the partners is significantly better than Airplane #1. Condition of assembly is much better and we will see continued improvements on the condition of each assembly shipped. All this helps to bring us back into alignment with the original design of our production system.” Production is going well on subsequent airplanes, too. Currently 21 airplanes are in various stages of production. This number includes the static and fatigue airplanes, which will not be delivered to customers. Since its launch in April 2004, the 787 Dreamliner has amassed 857 firm orders valued at $144 billion from 56 airlines.
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