Boeing 7E7

Boeing 7E7 in new Boeing colors

The Boeing 7E7, or Dreamliner, is a mid-sized passenger airliner currently under development by Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) and scheduled to enter service in 2008. It will carry between 200 and 350 passengers depending on the seating configuration, and be more fuel-efficient than earlier airliners. According to Boeing, the "E" in "7E7" has no specific meaning; rather, it suggests a number of positive traits. "Efficiency" is an obvious attribute, although the "E" has also been said to stand for "environmentally friendly" or "exceptional". Boeing has claimed that the most important "E" will be "e-enabled", as the entire aircraft will be wired and controlled via ethernet systems. Many industry spectators predict that 7E7 will not be the final name of the aircraft, which is tipped to be either 787 or 808.

Background

The 7E7 design has replaced the earlier Sonic Cruiser that was offered as Boeing's answer to the Airbus A380 mega-airliner. In fact, it appears that the Sonic Cruiser, a new generation of high speed subsonic passenger aircraft after the (supersonic) Concorde, existed only in artwork and no engineering had actually taken place. Many commentators suggested it was a trial balloon offered to test the waters for a higher-speed airliner. The design proved to be uninteresting to the airlines, and was generally ignored.

Instead, the Boeing teams turned to efficiency for their new design. The Airbus A320 had proved to be a major shock to the industry when its lower operating costs proved very popular, and many of the smaller airliners like the 737 and MD-80 proved unable to compete. The 7E7 appears to attempt to redress this by introducing a new design in the mid-size class with the same sort of lower operating costs. The 7E7 is designed to be some 10-15% more efficient on general routes than competing designs. The 7E7 is sized to be able to replace both the 757 and 767 on the production lines.

On December 16, 2003, it was announced construction would be done in Everett, Washington, employing 800 to 1,200 people.

On April 6, 2004, Boeing announced that it had selected only two engine types, the General Electric GENX and Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 to power the 7E7. Significantly, this leaves Pratt & Whitney unable to offer one of their own engines to 7E7 customers. Boeing may have wished to rely on two evolved versions of existing engines rather than the higher-risk option of an all new P&W engine. There was also speculation that Rolls-Royce and GE were willing to become risk-sharing partners, while P&W was not.

For the first time in commercial aviation, both engine types will have a standard interface with the aircraft, allowing any 7E7 to be fitted with either a GE or RR engine at any point in time. This is derived from the Boeing's participation in the JSF program with one of its requirements being complete interchangablity of the two engine types, the F135 and F136.

Engine interchangeability makes the 7E7 a far more flexible asset to airlines, allowing them to change from one manufacturer's engine to the other's in light of any future engine developments which conform more closely to their operating profile. The engine market for the 7E7 is estimated $40Bn over the next 25 years.

Any commercial launch of a new airliner can be expected to draw scathing comments from competitors, Boeing's doubt over the A380 and Airbus' mocking of the Sonic Cruiser are recent examples. The 7E7 is no exception, as Airbus' John Leahy has made attempts at refuting all of the claims that Boeing have made for the aircraft. Airbus is of course in no position to start development of a comparable plane, with the ongoing development of the A380, however Airbus might not be in such a dangerous position as they appear. A reduced weight A330-200 (referred to as A330-200Lite) with the 7E7's next generation turbofans (modified to generate bleed air as with the proposed 747 Advanced) would come close to the performance claimed for the Boeing jet. However without the widespread use of composites it would struggle to meet the potential savings on operating costs of the 7E7. Airbus does claim however that these potential savings would be offset slightly by up to 4% more drag than the A330-200 because of the wider fuselage. Nevertheless, by the middle of 2004 rumours began to mount that Airbus was ready to publicly announce that it was developing a potential challenger to the 7E7—rumored to be called the A350.

Commercial launch

On April 26, 2004, the Japanese airline All Nippon Airways (ANA) became the launch customer for the 7E7, announcing a firm order for 50 aircraft to be delivered beginning in 2008. The order is valued at roughly USD$6 billion and represents the largest ever single launch order for a new Boeing jetliner, as well as illustrating market acceptance of the concept.

ANA will buy 30 7E7-3, 300-seat, one-class aircraft for the domestic market, and 20 7E7-8, long-haul, 230-seat, two-class aircraft for international routes such as Tokyo Narita-Los Angeles. The aircraft will allow new routes to be opened to minor cities not previously served, such as to Denver.

On June 2, 2004, Air New Zealand (ANZ) became the second 7E7 customer, announcing a firm order for 2 aircraft and options on 16 more. This unusual arrangement was likely precipitated by ANZ's perception that they needed to secure their delivery slots, far in advance. The aircraft will be used to develop new international routes and increase frequency on existing routes. ANZ was the first airline to announce which powerplant would power their aircraft, selecting the Trent in June 2004.

Blue Panorama of Italy and First Choice Airways of the United Kingdom placed orders for 4 and 6 examples, respectively, of the 7E7-8 on July 7, 2004. Primaris Airlines (run by several prominent industry veterans), which caters to business customers in the same vein as Switzerland's PrivatAir, placed an order on October 21, 2004 for 20 7E7s and options for 15 more. The Primaris order represents the first American customer for the aircraft.

The total number of 7E7 orders publicly stands at 62. Boeing stated on July 15, 2004 that they have 200 orders, but have yet to identify who those orders are with. According to BCA chief Harry Stonecipher, the additional orders will be finalized by the end of September, 2004. They expect to have 500 orders by entry into service (EIS).

The 7E7-3 and 7E7-8 variants will be available first. The 7E7-9 was expected to be available two years later, but the first 2.5 years production has now been sold out for the initial variants, so the introduction of the -9 has been delayed in order to fulfill initial demand.

The 7E7-8 variant was priced at a list price of $120 million per copy, shocking the industry. Launch customer ANA is rumored to have received a 50% discount, though that may never be easily confirmed.

Japanese and other foreign program partners

It also underscores the importance of Japanese industrial participation (35% workshare with Boeing itself holding 35%) with most of the subcontractors fully supported and funded by the Japanese government. The Japanese participants are no longer junior partners. Having burned their fingers in the 7J7 fiasco, they decided to invest in the commercial orders as an insurance to this project.

Boeing will assemble the aircraft and manufacture its forward fuselage, tail fin, ailerons, flaps, and slats. For its entire history, Boeing has jealously guarded its techniques for designing and mass producing commercial jetliner wings. Due to economic realities, the wings will be manufactured by Japanese companies, while most of the fuselage and the horizontal stabilizers will be manufactured by Vought/Alenia. Many of the foreign companies which will be contributing to the 7E7 will be producing their structures at their American facilities.

Messier-Dowty will build the undercarriage. This highlights the French participation in the Boeing program, partially as an industrial offset for Air France launch of the Boeing 777-300ER. Rockwell's Collins division will provide most cockpit systems.

The final assembly will consist of attaching fully-completed subassemblies, instead of building the complete aircraft from the ground up. This is a technique which Boeing has previously used on the 737 program, which involves airlifting fuselage barrel sections from Boeing's Wichita, Kansas facility to their final assembly plant at Renton, Washington. Airbus has also used this technique in the past, which in their case is more a political necessity as a result of having to divide workshare between partner nations.

The 7E7 will undergo wind-tunnel testing at Boeing's Transonic Wind Tunnel, QinetiQ's 5-metre wind tunnel based in Farnborough, UK, and NASA Ames Research Center's wind tunnel, as well as at the French aerodynamics research agency, ONERA. Ironically, ONERA is based in Toulouse, France, which is where Airbus is headquartered.

Features

• Twin aisle seating.
• Cruise speed: 0.85 Mach (903 km/h or 561 mph at altitude)
• Range of 8,500 nautical miles (15,700 km), enough to cover the Los Angeles to London or Los Angeles to Tokyo routes.
• Construction materials (by weight): 57 percent composite, 24 percent aluminum, 11 percent titanium, 8 percent steel. Composite materials are significantly lighter than traditional aircraft materials, making the 7E7 a very light aircraft for its capabilities. By volume, the 7E7 will be 80% composite.
• The 7E7 production line will be able to finish an aircraft in as little as three days, compared to 17 days for the 737.
• Larger windows than any other civil air transport, with a higher eye level, so passengers can see the horizon, with liquid crystal display (LCD)-based controls instead of shutters.
• Light-emitting diode (LED) based lighting
• Cabin air dumped often (no engine bleed air), with outside air compressed in.
• Ethernet connections between aircraft systems and flight deck controls.

Variants

The 7E7 is currently being sold in three variants:

• The 7E7-3 will be a 289-seat short-range version targeted at high density flights in Asia, with a range of 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km). EIS is 2010.
• The 7E7-8 will be the "baseline" model, with 217 seats in three classes and a range of 8,500 nautical miles (15,700 km). EIS is 2008.
• The 7E7-9 will be a stretched variant, seating 257 in three classes. EIS is 2010.

¹ With full load (passengers and cargo)

External links

• A detailed analysis of the 7E7's business affairs (pdf) (http://igeographer.lib.indstate.edu/pritchard.pdf)
• 7E7 Facts (http://www.boeing.com/commercial/7e7/facts.html)
• Aircraft-Info.net - Boeing 7E7 (http://www.aircraft-info.net/aircraft/jet_aircraft/boeing/7e7/)
• ANA info page on 7E7 (http://www.anaskyweb.com/us/e/about_ana/corp_info/news/2004/040426.html)
• 7E7 and WTO (http://www.buffalo.edu/reporter/vol35/vol35n40/articles/Boeing.html)

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