BOEING has stepped up its 7E7 marketing with a pre-Farnborough briefing in London last week where Mike Blair, senior vice president for the 7E7 programme said that the company expects to win up to 500 orders for the aircraft before its first flight in 2007 (”Will this aircraft be the first ever delayed by the marketing department rather than engineering?” ” editor). Singapore Airlines, with a potential order for up to 50 aircraft, is said to be the next airline to sign up following ANA with 50 and Air New Zealand with two Rolls-Royce powered machines. The 7E7 is in fact currently a family of three aircraft: the 7E7-8 Dreamliner will carry 217 passengers in three classes of seating with a range of up to 8,500 nautical miles; the 7E7-3, a model of the 7E7-8 optimized for shorter flights, will carry 289 passengers in two-class seating for up to 3,500 nm; the 7E7-9, will carry 257 passengers in three classes with a range of 8,300nm. At the same time Boeing announced that Smiths of the UK had been selected to supply aircraft landing gear actuation including control systems and the high lift actuation system. Smiths joined the 7E7 team in February when Boeing named it supplier of the common core system, an integrated avionics platform that is key to the 7E7's open-systems architecture.
http://www.boeing.com