777-8 et 777-9

Beochien a écrit:Mais tout refaire (Et tester) sur, quand même les mêmes formes, doit coûter moins cher qu'une nouvelle étude ... si tout est déjà numérisé, et c'est peut être le PB rencontré !

Beochien a écrit:Pour Al Baker, Qatar Airways, rien à acheter pour l'instant, EG pas de B777 9X à Dubaï !

En fin qq'un de prudent et qui préfère attendre de voir ce que propose Boeing ... hors PR !

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/24/us-qatar-boeing-idUSBRE99N0WO20131024

Boeing Co. BA -1.00%  is evaluating whether to give its nonunionized South Carolina facility a bigger role in building the planned new version of its 777 long-range jet, according to industry officials briefed on the company's planning.

The plant, in the city of North Charleston, currently only builds sections and completes assembly for some Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Analysts have expected the site, which rolled its first finished plane off the line 18 months ago, would play a role in the 777X when that plane goes into production around 2017 or 2018, but that final assembly would be done at Boeing's huge facility in Everett, Wash.

However, Boeing is now evaluating using the South Carolina plant for both final assembly of the 777X and to build the jet's new carbon-fiber composite wings, according to two industry officials briefed on Boeing's development of the 777X. "South Carolina looks more and more promising," one of the officials said.

"We are studying our options," a Boeing spokesman said, adding that "777X production system decisions will be addressed at the appropriate time."

Boeing is nearing approval from its board of directors to formally launch the 777X, which is expected to start flying with airlines around 2020. The plane is expected to be a substantially updated version of its current 777—the company's best-selling large twin-engine jetliner—stretching its body and improving fuel efficiency by 20% over today's 777. The new plane is expected to hold 350 to 400 seats.

Assembling the 777X and its wings in North Charleston could mean the majority of Boeing's two most important twin-aisle manufacturing programs are in South Carolina, when combined with Boeing's plans to increase 787 production there by a further 40% by the end of the decade.

Assembly of the aircraft and the fabrication of its wings is one of the biggest aerospace industrial prizes in the U.S. since 2009, when Boeing selected North Charleston as its second final assembly line for the 787 Dreamliner, beating out its longtime manufacturing base in Washington state.

That expansion to South Carolina, a right-to-work state, triggered a row with its largest union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The National Labor Relations Board alleged that Boeing was retaliating for a 2008 strike. The dispute was settled in 2011 after Boeing secured wage concessions from the membership and a contract extension to 2016 that keeps 737 Max assembly operations in unionized facilities.

A spokesman for the IAM in Seattle didn't immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.

Boeing is nearing completion of a deal to acquire around 270 more acres of land at the North Charleston site for $13.8 million, earmarked for future, unspecified "aircraft manufacturing," said Paul Campbell, Director of airports for the Charleston County Aviation Authority. The deal would more than double the current 240-acre site.

Boeing has built the existing 777 at its Everett, Wash., plant since the early 1990s. Initial manufacturing plans for the 777X had intended to use a factory bay there that is used today for the Dreamliner, according to three people familiar with those plans. That Dreamliner program is expected to stop using that bay in 2016, leaving it and a planned facility on the northern part of the Everett campus to build 777X's wings.

Along with North Charleston, S.C., and Everett, Wash., a third site in the U.S. Southwest is also being considered for 777X work, say two people familiar with the deliberations. Exactly where couldn't be determined.

Jay Inslee, Washington's Democratic governor, has been aggressively courting Boeing to land the 777X with a package of incentives, most recently proposing to extend tax breaks through 2040 that were first granted for the Dreamliner last decade, should Boeing choose to put both the wing and final assembly in the state. Labor and political officials say Washington state also offers a broader value for Boeing with a deep pool of experienced labor.

The South Carolina plant has had some hitches. Boeing initially planned to be building three 787s a month by the end of this year, but the new site wasn't prepared to make that jump and the company now expects to build two to three 787s a month there by year-end. The Everett plant will build eight 787 a month by year's end, relying further on its twin assembly lines. Boeing announced Wednesday it would accelerate total 787 production to 12 a month in 2016 and 14 a month before the end of the decade.

Boeing's sales teams are negotiating deals for 777X, aiming to win enough commitments to persuade its board to proceed with the plane's launch. It secured its first commitment for the 777X in September when Deutsche Lufthansa AG LHA.XE -1.04%  announced it would buy 34 of the 400-seat jets. It has been in talks with Emirates Airline for years on a deal that could be announced at the Dubai air show in November.

BREAKING EXCLUSIVE WSJ: Boeing selects engineers in SC, CA, AL, MO, CA and Russia to design 777X. No role yet for Washington state.

— Jon Ostrower (@jonostrower) October 30, 2013

Jon Ostrower a écrit:Boeing Co. BA +0.02%  will design its new 777X jetliner with engineers in Russia and five U.S. states—a snub to technical staff in Washington state that have been central to creating every major jetliner built by the company over the past 60 years.

The company disclosed the move in a memo to engineers on Wednesday that said any role that staff at its main manufacturing facilities in the Puget Sound area might have in designing or building the revamp of its twin-aisle jet hadn't been decided.

The 777X project, which has yet to be officially launched by the company's board, will be designed by engineers in St. Louis; Philadelphia; Charleston, S.C.; Huntsville, Ala.; and Long Beach, Calif. Boeing's design center in Moscow will also assist in the jet's design.

"The announced structure will allow for an efficient use of resources and enable Boeing to resolve design issues effectively the first time," Mike Delaney, Boeing commercial airplane vice president of engineering, and Scott Fancher, vice president of airplane development, wrote in the memo.

The company notified its engineering staff of the decision Wednesday morning. A Boeing spokesman confirmed the authenticity of the memo and the company's decision to use engineers outside of its traditional base in the Pacific Northwest.

The memo followed management frustration at 3½ years of delays for its 787 Dreamliner and ensuing labor strife, despite the role by engineers in Puget Sound in resolving many of the aircraft's technical challenges after suppliers struggled with the design and industrialization of the cutting-edge jetliner.

The 777X is a heavily-updated version of the company's popular long-range jetliner. The company secured its first commitments for the 350- to 400-seat jetliner last month, with an order from Deutsche Lufthansa AG LHA.XE +1.94%  . A significant batch of orders for the 777X from airlines based in the Middle East is expected at the Dubai air show next month.

Preliminary design work on the 777X is being done by engineers and product planners at Boeing's widebody jetliner manufacturing base in Everett, Wash. The sites identified Wednesday will design millions of components on the aircraft before manufacture, the most engineering-intensive phase of development.

Boeing outsourced around 60% of such detailed design work to suppliers when it developed the 787, and latest on the 777X decision brings that work back under the company's direct control.

A Boeing spokesman said the engineering work done at the six sites will mostly focus on the design of the 777X's new carbon-fiber-composite wings, which are the single biggest change on the aircraft from the existing model.

The selection of engineering teams outside Washington also raises the likelihood Boeing won't make its longtime Northwest base the sole home for the jet. Boeing is evaluating placing the 777X's final assembly line and fabricating its carbon-fiber wings in South Carolina. Historically, Boeing has located the final assembly of jetliners where it has done most of the design work.

The decision also reflects declining U.S. military spending, tapping engineers in Alabama, Missouri and Pennsylvania who historically have focused on designing rockets, fighter jets and helicopters, respectively.

Boeing has been expanding its engineering resources outside Washington state. That includes a new, nonunionized new engineering base in South Carolina, which currently builds some 787 Dreamliners.

The 777X decision comes on the heels of a protracted contract dispute with its engineers' and technical workers union in Washington, California, Utah and Oregon this year that split the membership on a contract and authorization of a strike.

"As engineering tasks are shared with other talented engineering groups, we fully expect Puget Sound to play the key integrating role needed to avoid a replication of the problems experienced by the 787 program," said Ray Goforth, executive director of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace.

Boeing said the union was notified of the decision "as a courtesy" before the announcement was made internally Wednesday.

Write to Jon Ostrower at jon.ostrower@wsj.com