Boeing says it’s designed the 787 Dreamliner to be 30 percent less expensive to maintain than any comparable product, savings due to its advanced design, wide use of composite structures and highly-integrated systems architecture. That means fewer maintenance tasks and longer intervals between them.
Now, the Federal Aviation Administration has approved Boeing’s scheduled maintenance program, which defines the tasks and the intervals operators will use to maintain the jets. The report was accepted by the Maintenance Review Board, an FAA organization that reviews and accepts maintenance requirements. It’s one of many requirements needed for the plane to be certified.
The maintenance program is supported by more than 33,000 pages of supporting analysis, the participation of eight regulatory agencies, 25 airlines and 30 suppliers and partners, Boeing said.
NASCAR champion and Kansas native Clint Bowyer has taken delivery of a Beechcraft Premier 1A light business jet. Bowyer was in Wichita for the delivery. While here, he toured Hawker Beechcraft and signed autographs for employees.
The plane cruises at 520 mph, fulfilling Bowyer’s need for speed on the racetrack and in the skies, the company said.
Bowyer, who grew up in Emporia, is a three-year veteran of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, finishing in the top five in 2007 and 2008. He drives a Chevrolet Impala for Richard Childress RAcing in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series. He has two career victories in the Sprint Cup Series.
Boeing achieved a milestone recently on its KC-767 tankers it’s building for the Italian Air Force.
Over the skies of northern Kansas, one of the tankers was refueled by another Italian KC-767 refueler. It’s the first time the KC-767 tanker has been refueled by another aircraft, Boeing officials say.
Boeing Wichita has been working on the tanker modifications.
During the flight test, Boeing aircrews made seven contacts and transferred more than 10,000 pounds of fuel using a system located at the top of the aircraft, behind the cockpit, the company said.
Boeing has two KC-767s in flight test for Italy and is building two additional tankers.
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday. I will be out of the office for the holidays (and a little surgery) beginning Friday, Dec. 19. I’ll return on Dec. 26. During that time, blog postings will be less frequent.
Thank you for reading this blog. I look forward to your comments and suggestions.
Have a great holiday season!
Tailwinds!
Molly
More bad news on the manufacturing front. The Alliance for American Manufacturing reports that the U.S. has lost more than 4 million manufacturing jobs since the year 2000.
The Washington-based group based its findings on data from the national Current Employment Statistics survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to the data, the U.S. employed 17,202,000 in manufacturing in November 2000. That figure dropped to 13,168,000 in November 2008.
Frontier Airlines, which serves Wichita with flights to Denver, is giving passengers three choices of fares in a new program called AirFairs. Customers with no checked bags who are willing to accept high fees to change flights will pay the least. Those who have checked baggage, want seating flexibility and in-flight TV pay more. Frontier says the change is in response to customers’ desires for more pricing flexibility and transparency.
According to Frontier’s website:
- Classic Plus is the ultimate. The Classic Plus ticket is fully refundable, changeable, and provides the customer the ability to confirm a seat on a different flight the same day of travel for no charge. In addition, Classic Plus customers get priority boarding, two checked bags, complimentary DIRECTV®, an in-flight snack and a premium beverage. Classic Plus customers also receive a 150% mileage credit in EarlyReturns®, the company’s customer loyalty program.
- Classic offers the important comforts for the best overall value. For as little as $20 more than an Economy fare the Classic customer gets advanced seat assignments, two complimentary checked bags and DIRECTV®, and 125% EarlyReturns® mileage credit. In addition, they will be charged only a $50 fee for itinerary changes and $75 for same day confirmed changes.
- Economy is the basic ticket to ride. The Economy ticket is for the customer who is traveling light and doesn’t foresee any schedule changes. The Economy ticket is our guaranteed lowest fare.
Boeing Wichita and its engineering union plan to resume negotiations Jan. 13 after the holiday break, a Boeing spokesman said Wednesday. Talks have been in recess.
The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace represents about 700 engineers at Boeing Wichita. The current contract was extended to allow for the talks to resume.
Boeing Wichita plans to issue 60-day layoff notices to about 60 employees on Friday.
The layoffs are part of a previously-announced plan to cut 800 jobs in Wichita – about 25 percent of the workforce — next year.
About 70 60-day notices went out in late November.
The cuts are due to work winding down on some military programs, such as the international tanker program and a delay in a program to replace aging U.S. Air Force refueling tankers.
One way to track progress on Boeing’s 787 is to watch the movements of Boeing’s 747 Dreamlifter fleet. The specially-modified planes pick up shipments from the 787 major structural suppliers and deliver them to Boeing’s Everett, Wash. plant for final assembly. In Wichita, the planes pick up nose sections from Spirit AeroSystems. UBS Investment Research analyst David Strauss is tracking the fleet’s movements.
Strauss, in a justs-released report, has concluded that supplier deliveries on the 787 have resumed at roughly prestrike levels. Boeing’s hourly workers struck the company for almost two months this fall. The strike halted 787 component deliveries.
Dreamlifter arrivals in Wichita have recommenced at low rates, the report said. The slow pace reflects the final assembly bottleneck at Boeing. “We are watching for an increase in Dreamlifter activity that supports Boeing being able to hit its revised flight test schedule and projected steep production ramp,” it said.
Strauss tracked 10 Dreamlifter arrivals into Everett in November and four into Charleston, S.C. from Grottaglie, Italy. There were three flights from Wichita to Everett in November, a rate that is “in line with pre-strike levels of activity.” The analyst also noted “larger-than-normal number of Dreamlifter stopovers in Wichita on the way from Charleston to Everett.”
Boeing’s Dreamlifter fleet consists of three modified 747s. They bring wings from Japan, the aft fuselage from Charleston, S.C., the center fuselage from Italy and Japan (which are integrated in Charleston) and the nose section from Wichita.
Not every arrival involves delivery of major structural components, Strauss notes. So not all of them can be used as an proxy for production rates. But tracking the Dreamlifters will help gauge progress, the report said.
Wednesday, December 17 marks the 105th anniversary of the first-powered flight.
The famous flight by Orville and Wilbur Wright lasted 12 seconds, but it changed the world. It also inspired others who went on to make great contributions in aviation, like Wichita’s Clyde Cessna, Walter Beech and Bill Lear.
Cessna is paying tribute to the anniversary and to the Wright brothers.
“We’d be remiss if we did not pay tribute to Orville and Wilbur,” Cessna chairman and chief executive Jack Pelton said in a statement. “Not only did their 12-second flight … transform the world by giving us the power of controlled flight, but their application of scientific methodology displayed the passion needed to make the most of flight as a tool.”
Clyde Cessna taught himself to fly a few years after the Wright’s flight. Since Cessna formed the company in 1927, it has produced almost 200,000 aircraft.
“General aviation — business aviation — will continue to play a vital role in rebuilding the global economy by enhancing productivity — by continuing to shrink the world,” he said. General aviation makes possible scores of medical, agriculture, utility and community service activities across the globe.
