Transcripts

The Dreamliner Is Almost Ready for Take Off

SUSIE GHARIB: It's a game of beat the clock at Boeing. Final assembly began this week on its new 787 Dreamliner. The jet makes its first public appearance in early July. While the Dreamliner won't be landing at airports for another year, it's already Boeing's fastest-selling new jet ever. Diane Eastabrook was in Everett, Washington this week as the first Dreamliner took shape.

DIANE EASTABROOK, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Inside a plant the size of several football fields, workers brought together large pieces of the first 787 Dreamliner. The 787 is the first new jet Boeing has built in more than a decade. While Boeing has touted it for years, the company has guarded the plane's development. Reporters invited to watch the Dreamliner's assembly had to view it from a balcony more than 100 yards away. The 787 Dreamliner is unique because it will fly farther than any other mid-sized jet and will be up to 20 percent more fuel efficient. Scott Strode, vice president of 787 production and development, says those features have already helped Boeing sell nearly 570 Dreamliners.

SCOTT STRODE, V.P. 787 DEVELOPMENT & PRODUCTION, BOEING: The market is very solid for this airplane right now and we see it continuing. The fuel costs the way they are right now is particularly important for our customers in terms of making buying decisions. So, starting early, being a leader in terms of the technologies we are bringing into the marketplace in terms of fuel burn and noise are very important.

EASTABROOK: When Boeing set out to design a new plane six years ago, the 787 wasn't quite what it had in mind. At that time, the company was aiming for a jet that would fly faster and higher. That jet was the sonic cruiser. But an airline industry restructuring and higher petroleum prices triggered by the 9/11 terrorist attack prompted carriers to ask for a different kind of jet. They wanted a plane that would burn less fuel and fly smaller groups of passengers to more locations. So, Boeing scrapped the sonic cruiser for the Dreamliner, but still kept some of the sonic cruiser's design details. One idea was using lighter composite or fiber material for the skin of the jet instead of aluminum. Stephen Westby, vice president of manufacturing and quality, says that helped reduce weight.

STEPHEN WESTBY, V.P. 787 MANUFACTURING & QAULITY, BOEING: It goes into automated fiber placement machines that lay that in layers. So, in the fuselage case, it is sometimes up to 100 layers of composite materials that we put into these airplanes.

EASTABROOK: The 787 Dreamliner is in stark contrast to the A-380 European competitor Airbus is currently rolling out. Airbus's giant jet carries close to 1,000 passengers, but due to its size, can only fly into larger airports. The A-380 has been plagued by delays and has not sold well. Airbus will challenge the Dreamliner with a similar jet called the A-350, but that plane won't be delivered to airlines for another six years. That is five years after the first 787 delivery. Cowen & Company aerospace analyst Cai von Rumohr, who owns stock in Boeing, predicts the 787 Dreamliner will be the preferred jet.

CAI VON RUMOHR, AEROSPACE ANALYST, COWEN & COMPANY: When you have products going after essentially the same niche, if one guy is early versus the other guy and gets more of the customers, it has been historically very difficult for the second to market to really kind of fully regain that share. So I think Airbus will have its work cut out for it.

EASTABROOK: Boeing thinks the 787 Dreamliner will become one of its most valuable products ever. Tomorrow, we'll look at what new technologies Boeing thinks will make the 787 the jet for the 21st century. Diane Eastabrook, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Everett Washington.