The Wall Street Journal reports today that Boeing’s long-suffering 787 Dreamliner has hit yet another snag: At least 42 newly-produced jets may have hairline fractures along the wings. Luckily, the planes haven’t been delivered to buyers yet, but it’s still bad news for Boeing.
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If Boeing was looking to 2014 as a fresh start
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Reuters reports that smoke was seen coming from a Japan Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner early Wednesday morning. You might remember that almost exactly a year ago, a Dreamliner caught on fire in Boston, grounding the plane worldwide for four months. The cause of that fire? The battery
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As of tomorrow, the longest flight in the world will shuttle passengers on a 747-400 from Sydney, Australia to Dallas, Texas. That 15-hour, 25-minute hop on board Qantas 7 may not be the lengthiest in duration, but at 8,578 miles gate to gate, it’ll lead the industry in miles flown. For a few more hours, however, Singapore Airlines’ decade-long run from Newark, N.J., to Singapore remains the record holder for both time (more than 18 hours) and distance (9,534 miles). It’s a journey that’s been on the bucket lists of the world’s most ambitious aviation enthusiasts since the city-state’s namesake airline first launched the service in 2004, and following tonight’s final jaunt, this record-setting A340-500 will touch down at Changi Airport for the very last time.
Despite this cheerless loss, it’s a spectacular time in the world of aviation. Sure, we don’t have our supersonic Concorde replacement just yet, and the Dreamliner rollout was not without significant heartbreak, but the past few years have represented a tremendous period, with banner launches from both Airbus and Boeing that will change the way we fly forever. But as with any category, aircraft manufacturing and design advances also serve to highlight the shortcomings of previous-generation products.
The Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 make massive efficiency boosts a reality, leading gas-guzzling greats like the aging A340-500 to a premature retirement. In this case, the A345’s departure from Singapore’s fleet represents not only better things to come, but also the loss of a landmark route — it’s an unavoidable compromise, and with the end in sight, I drained my frequent flier account in order to score a ticket, and set out to discover the significance of Singapore Flight 21’s retirement.%Gallery-slideshow123017%
Filed under: Transportation
This last year has not been kind to Boeing’s fledgling 787 Dreamliner class airplanes, what with the repeated electrical fires, fleet groundings, and bad publicity. But Boeing is confident that it’s worked the kinks out in its newest Dreamliner iteration, the 787-9, which rolled out of the factory earlier today and is eagerly awaiting its first test flight.
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Back in June Seattle based aircraft manufacturer, Boeing, announced that the 787-9 Dreamliner had entered into the final assembly stage. Boeing said back then that it expects to deliver the aircraft early next year. Yesterday Boeing announced that it has completed production of the first ever 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. The second member of Boeing’s 787 family has now made its way from the assembly line to the flight line, where teams are preparing to take it to the skies for various tests later this summer.
The fuselage of this aircraft is 20 feet longer than the 787-8 Dreamliner. This particular aircraft expands the Dreamliner family’s capacity and range. Customers who want to carry an additional 40 passengers for over 300 nautical miles more than the conventional Dreamliner can go for this member of the family. Boeing also announced that the second and third 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft are now in final assembly, adding that the company and the 787-9 is completely on track. Air New Zealand is the launch customer for Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, delivery is expected to take place in mid-2014. Boeing could definitely use some good news related to the Dreamliner, this year has been particularly hard for this family. Dreamliners were grounded for over four months as Boeing was forced to go back to the drawing board to make modifications to the battery system.
First Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner Rolls Out original content from Ubergizmo. 
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That Boeing 787 Dreamliner that caught fire
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A Boeing 787 Dreamliner continued the model’s string of bad luck yesterday when it burst into flames on the tarmac at London Heathrow Airport yesterday
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Looks like yet another Dreamliner is on fire—this time, it’s on the tarmac at London Heathrow Airport. (Luckily, it appears the jet is empty.) You’ll remember that the Boeing 787 was initially grounded back in January after one of the aircraft caught fire on the ground at Boston Logan Airport. This new fire comes just months after a revised design of the Dreamliner with a new battery system was cleared for take off
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