Today, the chief of Boeing’s commercial airplanes unit said the 787 Dreamliner is on schedule for its first test flight next summer and first customer delivery in 2008. Assembly of the main sections is set to start in January. Boeing already has 435 orders for the aircraft.
Meanwhile, Lufthansa has announced that they are ordering 20 747-8 plus options for an additional 20. The 747-8 is the latest generation of the popular 747 jumbo jet and is 16 percent more fuel efficient than the 747-400, it’s predecessor. The aircraft are scheduled for delivery in 2010. Lufthansa is the first airline to offer the passenger version of the 747-8, which has so far only been ordered for cargo operations. Boeing has 44 orders for the cargo version of the 747, launched in November 2005.
New for the passenger version are improvements designed for the 787, including new mood-lighting technology, as well as new lavatories. The 747-8 is the only jetliner in the 400 to 500 seat market, between the 787 and the A350 and the under-production A380.
In addition, Lufthansa has also said it will order seven A340-600s, of which it already has 14. And it has already ordered 15 A380s, which it plans to turn into its flagship aircraft.
For the 747s though, the 747-8 allows it to modernize its current fleet of 30 390-seat 747-400s. For Lufthansa, the 400 seat 747 fits in neatly in betwen the A340, with 300 seats, and the A380 with 550…which gives it an even distribution of long-haul aircraft.