Right now in Everett, twin 787s are undergoing final assembly with
red painted rudders. Dreamliners Three and Four are destined for
Northwest. I've had the pleasure of seeing both at various states of
assembly in South Carolina, Kansas and Washington. Dreamliner Three will forever hold a special place in my heart, as it was the first 787 I stepped aboard back in May.
The now-approved merger of Delta and Northwest has provided this blogger with much Photoshop fodder over the past several months. Whether it was their respective fleets side by side when the merger was first announced or the first Delta 747-400 set to emerge from the paint shop next month, this merger has been easy on the eyes.
I went ahead and had some fun with Photoshop yesterday afternoon and painted up a rendering of what a Delta 787 should look like when it emerges from the paintshop. Make sure to click the image for a larger version.
Though, with things progressing sluggishly in Everett, will those two flight test 787s be painted first in Northwest or Delta colors? I would imagine that Delta doesn't love the idea of having to pay for repainting of two new aircraft, so it certainly remains an open question if ZA003 and ZA004 will be born Delta instead of Northwest.
The now-approved merger of Delta and Northwest has provided this blogger with much Photoshop fodder over the past several months. Whether it was their respective fleets side by side when the merger was first announced or the first Delta 747-400 set to emerge from the paint shop next month, this merger has been easy on the eyes.
I went ahead and had some fun with Photoshop yesterday afternoon and painted up a rendering of what a Delta 787 should look like when it emerges from the paintshop. Make sure to click the image for a larger version.
Though, with things progressing sluggishly in Everett, will those two flight test 787s be painted first in Northwest or Delta colors? I would imagine that Delta doesn't love the idea of having to pay for repainting of two new aircraft, so it certainly remains an open question if ZA003 and ZA004 will be born Delta instead of Northwest.
Ah, but didn't you miss the engines? Looking at the 747 pic, they should be blue too.
787 engines cannot be painted any color but grey. There was an article about a year ago about this. It has something to do with the laminar air flow.
DL most likely will not want 787s with Trent engines as their fuel consumption is inferior to the newer generation of GEnx engines.
As well, DL's pendulum has swung more in favor of GE engines.
Jack, with engine pylon commonality, it will not be a problem for Delta to switch to GEnx engines from RRs. I expect them to do so if they go ahead with NWs 787 order.
A Delta Airlines (N864DA) 777-232ER had a catastrophic failure of it's right hand Rolls Royce engine during take-off from Atlanta bound for Narita on Jan2/09.