LyrArc Article Gist
Smaller more fuel efficient jets take the place of the Boeing 747 as the last 747 leaves the factory in 2023.

LyrArc Article Gist
Boeing reports a third annual loss in a row. As production problems and delivery delays for the Dreamliner 787 Boeing cost an additional $4.5 billon in the final quarter of 2021. Of this $3.5 billion is to compensate customers for the delays, and abnormal production costs forecast to be double than earlier estimated. Boeing expects deliveries to start in April and sees losses as behind it once deliveries start.

LyrArc Article Gist
The head of the Boeing 777 airplane program, Larry Loftis, is made the new head of the 787 Dreamliner program. The change is designed to improve the production timing of the Dreamliner program, which has suffered repeated delays and is three years behind the original plan. Boeing has a backlog of 850 customer orders on the Dreamliner.

LyrArc Article Gist
The work of innovation teams that help reduce lost production time and make production more efficient on Boeing's 737 production lines in Renton, Washington. There are 1300 improvement teams at Boeing for commerical jet production. Examples range from conventional improvements such as remapping production arrangements to unconventional ones like the use of hay loaders to put seats on passenger planes. The work requires highly motivated production engineers and Boeing has a long tradition of this. Boeing has increased 737 jet production to 35 a month from 31.5 with the help of such improvements. The goal is to make 42 planes a month by 2014, and 60 by 2017 when the 737 MAX goes into production. Boeing has a large backlog of orders- 3,700 jets of which 2,300 are 737s.

LyrArc Article Gist
Boeing makes the decision to make the next version of the Dreamliner, the 787-10, exclusively at its plant in the North Charleston area of S. Carolina. This is a non-union facility. Larry Loftis, Boeing's vice president and general manager of the 787 program, says the decision was made because it is not practical to ship by air the midbody section of the new plane which is 114 feet long, 10 feet longer than the 787-9. It would not fit into the modified 747 aircraft used to ship jet parts from one manufacturing facility to another. Currently this midbodysection is assembled in S. Carolina from pieces shipped by air from Italian and Japanese plants. Then flown to Everett, Washington or a S. Carolina assembly line for the final steps in the manufacturing process. Reliability and quality issues for the Dreamliner, and cost, are also better addressed by reducing shipment from one manufacturing facility to another. The decision to build this non-union plant in 2009 created strains with the labor unions. The 787-10 is 224 feet long, carries 320 passengers, one third more than the 787-8 and 15% more than the 787-9. It has a list price of 289 million. Boeing has 132 orders from airlines and lessors for this new version....

LyrArc Article Gist
One of Boeing's major customers airline Norwegian Air has subsidiaries in Denmark and Sweden that have gone bankrupt. Boeing has 92 undelivered orders for 737 Maxs and 2 787 Dreamliner aircraft waiting to be taken to Scandinavia. Additional 219 orders from leasing companies for aircraft were cancelled. In addition airlines such as Emirates are renegotiating price of 787 aircraft orders. Boring's commercial aircraft division is using up $4 billion a month just to keep production and suppliers running. It has used up half of a $14 billion credit line and has $15 billion in cash.The 737 Max crashes and failures cost an additional $18.7 billion in costs. 2019 ended with $27 billion in debt. Boeing has few options- the Trump administration is likely to support a government guarantee because Boeing is one of America's best companies and makes up 1% of U.S. GDP. Boeing assembly lines for models 747, 767, and 777 are going into full production on April 21. 787 line will open April 23 and run at full capacity by April 26. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Boeing is back to the negotiating table as 94% of Boeing worker machinists union workers reject the 25% offer. 

LyrArc Article Gist
Production delays, outsourcing issues and other problems are now hurting Boeing with cancellation of orders as airlines with lower profits in today's economic uncertainty are unable to take advantage of the new fuel efficient 787's in timely manner. Quantas first placed its order for upto 115 Dreamliners in 2005, and it hoped to reduce fuel costs with the 20% more fuel efficient Dreamliners than its 767 planes, which it hoped to retire. 28 Dreamliners were to be delivered by the end of 2011. This never happened as Boeing ran into production problems and only 17 were delivered to all airlines by September 2011. With the global economic uncertainty and slowdown Quantas is predicting a 90% drop in pretax profits for the fiscal year ending in June 2012 to A$50 million. With the situation changed Quantas decided to change the order by cancelling the orders for the larger 787-9 Dreamliner and keep the order for the 15 smaller 787-8 jets to save $8.5 billion. This follows a change made by China Eastern Airlines to cancel orders for 24 787s and buy smaller single aisle 737s for domestic flights. As a result Boeing's total orders stand at 824 in mid 2012, with only 7 new orders since 2007. Boeing says it needs to sell at least 1100 Dreamliners for the 787 program to be profitable. Its own forecast is for sales of an additional 2700 small twin aisle jets like the 787 between 2012 and 2031, with Boeing getting half of the market. The larger longer range 787-9 model will start delivery in 2014 and another version for more capacity on shorter routes the 787-10 is being discussed. Both programs Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and the competing Airbus A-350 program have suffered a series of production problems, outsourcing issues and delays in recent years. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Walt Gillette started at Boeing in 1964. He has been behind major advances in most of Boeing's planes- from the Dreamliner 787, 747, 737, 767. Gillette was the inspiration behind the use of twin engines for long haul flights, with the 767 wide body twin engine aircraft. He also helped solve problems related to putting powerful engines on the wings of a 737, using analytical methods called (CFD) Computational Fluid Dynamics. The studies led to using five parameters in a new combination that remains a trade secret at Boeing. The Dreamliner is his greatest achievement. What amazes Gillette is the huge advances in air travel, with about 600,000 people travelling around the world in Boeing planes on a single day. "I wanted to work on something that benefits the world," says Gillette.

LyrArc Article Gist
Cockpit seat issues on a LATAM Chilean 787 flight.