Regular reviews of program and technical progress are an important part of the validation and oversight process that has created today's safe and efficient air transportation system.
EVERETT, WASH. – Boeing is confident in the design and performance of the 787. It is a safe and efficient airplane that brings tremendous value to our customers and an improved flying experience to their passengers.
The airplane has logged 50,000 hours of flight and there are more than 150 flights occurring daily. Its in-service performance is on par with the industry’s best-ever introduction into service – the Boeing 777. Like the 777, at 15 months of service, we are seeing the 787’s fleet wide dispatch reliability well above 90 percent.
More than a year ago, the 787 completed the most robust and rigorous certification process in the history of the FAA. We remain fully confident in the airplane’s design and production system.
Regular reviews of program and technical progress are an important part of the validation and oversight process that has created today’s safe and efficient air transportation system. While the 787’s reliability is on par with the best in class, we have experienced in-service issues in recent months and we are never satisfied while there is room for improvement. For that reason, today we jointly announced with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) the start of a review of the 787’s recent issues and critical systems.
We welcome the opportunity to conduct this joint review. Our standard practice calls on us to apply rigorous and ongoing validation of our tools, processes and systems so that we can always be ensured that our products bring the highest levels of safety and reliability to our customers.
Just as we are confident in the airplane, we are equally confident in the regulatory process that has been applied to the 787 since its design inception. With this airplane, the FAA conducted its most robust certification process ever. We expect that this review will complement that effort.
CEO McNerney Statement on Joint FAA, Boeing 787 Review
Boeing Chairman, President and CEO Jim McNerney issued the following statement today after U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and FAA Administrator Michael P. Huerta announced that the FAA and Boeing will start a review of the 787’s recent issues and critical systems: “Boeing shares the same commitment to air travel safety that Transportation Secretary LaHood and FAA Administrator Huerta spoke of this morning in Washington, D.C. We also stand 100 percent behind the integrity of the 787 and the rigorous process that led to its successful certification and entry into service. We look forward to participating in the joint review with the FAA, and we believe it will underscore our confidence, and the confidence of our customers and the traveling public, in the reliability, safety and performance of the innovative, new 787 Dreamliner.”
Boeing rolls out first 777 at increased production rate
Boeing has rolled out the first 777 to be built at the increased production rate of 8.3 per month, or 100 airplanes per year. The airplane is a 777 Freighter that will be delivered in February to Korean Air.
The production increase began in October when the first airplane parts entered the Everett factory. Planning for the increased rate has been in work for almost a year.
“As we built the first airplane at the new rate, we saw some of the best production metrics ever,” said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager, 777 program and Airplane Development. “Our factory is running smoothly and we’ve reduced the time it takes to build a 777 by one day from 49 to 48 days.”
New manufacturing innovations such as flex-track drilling in the body and wing panels, automated floor drilling and wings painting equipment also contributed.
“Employee involvement teams have been critical to the rate increase,” Fancher said. “Ideas from those teams are saving time while improving quality and safety.”
In the past 31 months, the 777 program has increased rate two times. First from five to an all-time high production rate of seven in 2011, and now going beyond that to an all-time high rate of 8.3 airplanes per month.
1,066 777s have been delivered to date and a total of 1,431 have been ordered from 66 customers around the globe.
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