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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 2329.PDF
ULL LIST OF READER SERVICES ADVERTISER CONTAC-" EDITORIAL +44 (20) 8652 3842 Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS, UK Fax +44 (20) 8652 3840 email flight.intemstionalWbi.co.uk Editor Murdo Morrison +44 (20) 8652 4395 murdo.morrison@rbi.co.uk Editorial Assistant Andrew Costerton +44 (20) 8652 3835 andrew.costertoniSirbi.co.uk News Editor Andrew Doyle +44 (20) 8652 3096 andrevt.doyle@rbi.co.uk Acting Defence Editor Julian Moxon +44 (20) 8652 ZZHjuiian.moxon@rbi.co.uk Commercial Aviation Editor Max Kingsley-Jones +44 (20) 8652 3825 max.kingsley.jones@rbi.co.uk Operations/Safety Editor David Learmount +44 (20) 8652 3845 david.learmounWrbi.co.uk Business Editor Alexander Campbell +44 (20) 8652 3990 alexander.campbetl@rbi.co.uk Business & General Aviation Editor Kate Sarsfield +44 (20) 8652 3885 kate.sarsfield@rbi.co.uk Senior Reporter Justin Wastnage +44 (20) 8652 2WSjustin.mstnage@rbi.co.uk Technical Reporter Michael Phelan +44 (20) 8652 3843 micrmel.phelan@rbi.co.uk Spaceflight Correspondent Tim Furniss +44 (1237) 471960 tim@spaceport.co.uk Senior Technical Artist Giuseppe Picarella +44 (20) 8652 S05Ajoe.picarella@rbi.co.uk Editorial Artist Tim Brown +44 (20) 8652 8043 tim.brown@rbi.co.uk EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST European Editor Christina Mackenzie +33 (1) 64 23 68 89 christina.mackenzie@rbi.co.uk Israel Correspondent Arie Egozi +972 (3) 9413132 Middle East Correspondent Gerald Butt AMERICAS Washington DC Office Fax +1 (703) 836 8344 Americas Editor Graham Warwick +1 (703) 836 3448 graham.mrnick@rbi.co.uk East Coast Editor Stephen Trimble +1 (703) 836 3084 stephen.trimble@rbi.co.uk West Coast Editor Guy Norris +1 (949) 252 8971 Fax +1 (949) 252 8972 guy.norris@rbi.co.uk Brazil Correspondent Jackson Fiores Jr +55 212439-6062 Fax +55 212349-6090 fubar@uol.com.br Canada Correspondent Brian Dunn ASIA/PACIFIC Singapore Office Fax +65 6789 7575 Regional Managing Editor Nicholas lonides +65 6780 4311 nicholas.ionides@rbi.co.uk Deputy Asia Editor Brendan Sobie +65 6780 4309 brendan.sobie@rbi.co.uk Regional Reporter Leithen Francis +65 6780 4314 leithen.francis@rbi.co.uk Australia Civil Aviation Correspondent Emma Kelly +61 (8) 9454 4987 emmajkelly@bigpond.com Associate Editor (Defence) Peter La Franchi +61419 246620 Fax+61 (2) 62312795 nulka@ozemail.com.au EDITORIAL PRODUCTION Group Production Editor Graeme Osborn +44 (20) 8652 3828 Group Art Editor James Mason +44 (20) 8652 4994 Chief Sub-Editor Chris Thornton +44 (20) 8652 4997 Deputy Production Editor Jackie Thompson +44 (20) 8652 3850 Sub Editor Megan Turner +44 (20) 8652 3848 Photographer Mark Wagner +44 (20) 8944 5225 WWW.FLIGHTINTERNATIONAL.COM Webmaster Sheena Buchanan +44 (20) 8652 4432 SUBSCRIPTIONS +44 (1444) 445454 rbi.subscriptions@rbi.co.uk THE FLIGHT COLLECTION kini.hearn@rbi.co.uk © and Database Rights 2003 Reed Business Information Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of the publishers JV-'P 1 Air Transport Intelligence (ATI), Flight International's sister jL\ I I online service at www.rati.com, contains the full text of Flight • International and Airline Business since 1996. Full text of the magazines can also be found online with Lexis-Nexis, Dialogue, FT Profile, IAC and Reuters. Editor Kieran Daly +44 (20) 8652 3837 Reed Business Information COMMENT Time for change The demise of the 757 shows that Boeing must take the production efficiencies promised by the 7E7 and apply them to the rest of its lines Boeing's decision to end production of the 757, following Continental Airlines' decision to can cel orders for the narrowbody twinjet, highlights the importance to the US manufacturer of the 7E7, which is intended to replace both the 757 and the widebody 767. The revelation that Boeing plans to use Airbus-style air delivery of components for the 7E7 shows how serious it is about breaking the mould with its latest airliner. And reports that Boeing's board has given lim ited approval to offer the 7E7 to All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines System (JAS), ahead of a formal go-ahead, increases the likelihood the 7E7 will be launched. In an ideal world, Boeing would have pre ferred the 757 to have soldiered on until the 7E7 entered production. But the airtransport world is far from ideal these days. And the 757, deliveries of which began in 1982, was looking increasingly uncompetitive, particularly against Boeing's own Next Generation 737. Boeing must not stop at the 7E7 when it comes to breaking the mould This is underlined by Continental's decision to convert its last six 757-300 orders to 737- 800s, sounding the death knell for the 757. In today's cost-critical airline environment, oper ating more 737s is cheaper than adding 757s. But the 757 has been a success. After a slow start, the programme picked up pace in the 1990s, and when production ends next year Boeing will have delivered just over 1,060 aircraft. That compares favourably with the 1,010 707s delivered, although if falls short of the 1,831 727s built and pales beside the total of more than 5,300 737s that Boeing has sold so far. The 757 has narrowly outsold its stable- mate, but the prospect of a 100-aircraft tanker lease to the US Air Force looks likely to guar antee the 767's survival. With the 757 going out of production and the 767 going into the military, a decision on their replacement is becoming critical. Boeing is to present its business case for the 7E7 to the board by the end of the year, but confirmation that the aircraft is being formally offered to ANA and JAS is a positive sign. Flight International revealed in May that the two airlines - JAS is the holding company for the merged Japan Airlines and Japan Air System -were the likely launch customers for the twinjet. Since then, Japanese industry has strived to secure pro duction of up to 35% of the 7E7 airframe - a campaign that would almost certainly be clinched by launch orders from ANA and JAS. Boeing has insisted, since before the high speed Sonic Cruiser gave way to the super-efficient 7E7, that it would not be busi ness as usual when it came to building its next airliner. So far, the company has stayed true to that strategy: choosing composites for the air frame, courting risk-sharing partners, opening the final-assembly location to competition and, now, adopting air delivery of components. For a company that has often ridiculed the way Airbus shuttles aircraft subassembles between European plants in a fleet of oversize trans ports, the fact that Boeing is prepared to embrace the idea speaks volumes about its will ingness to do anything to reduce the 7E7's cost. Ironically, Boeing's conversion to the concept of air delivery comes as Airbus abandons the practice in favour of surface transport, as least in the case of the ultra-large A380. The Euro pean manufacturer was forced into using air delivery when surface transport of components of the very first Airbus proved impractical, and it has made a virtue of necessity. Starting with propeller-driven Super Guppys, Airbus took the expensive step in the early 1990s of converting A300-600Rs to Super Transporters, otherwise known as Belugas. Now Boeing plans to per form similar surgery on 747-400s to support the 7E7, if it is launched. Airbus did not abandon air delivery easily with the A380, but the components are too big for the Belugas. The company considered using larger Belugas or a heavylift airship, but settled instead on surface transport - at least for now. Boeing, meanwhile, has been driven to air deliv ery by its need to bring the large, integrated subassemblies to be produced by its partners together "just in time" on the streamlined final line planned for the 7E7, where assembly will take just days, not the weeks now required. The 757's demise is a wake-up call for Boeing, and for the industry, and a sign that it is time for change. The production efficiencies promised by the 7E7 are desperately needed, by manufacturers and customers alike. Manu facturers must embrace good ideas, whoever conceived them. But the state of its order back log shows that Boeing must not stop at the 7E7 when it comes to breaking the mould, and eventually its full line of aircraft must incorpo rate the latest technology and be built in the most efficient way. SEE HEADLINES P4, AIR TRANSPORT PIO www.fliqhtinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 21-27 OCTOBER 2003 3
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