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Rumors abound of a delay to the Boeing 787 entry into service were quickly quelled yesterday.

It’s no surprise that the fastest selling airplane in history would still be talk of the town - even if it has attracted those eager to twist the knife into the possibility that the 787 could miss its target service entry date.

One thing is assured - the 787 will not be 2 years late like the Airbus A380-800, nor will it emulate the European rivals spiralling costs which have ballooned to over $18bn in the face of an ongoing scandal.

Image courtesy of Boeing.com

“It is still our objective to meet that May 2008 delivery but in doing that we have had to compress our flight-test schedule” said Randy Tinseth, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Vice President for Marketing.

“It is an aggressive schedule but we believe we can do it.”

October 24 is the next scheduled program update call. Between now and then, skeptics, critics and all those in between will be furiously working hard to find out just how far along the 787 really is.

Given that this revolutionary airplane brings with it so many “firsts” for the industry, it is completely unrealistic to expect development, certification and service entry to be compared to airplanes of the past. Indeed, one only look at the conventional A380 and see that it suffered a series of chronic setbacks on wiring architecture.

Image courtesy of Boeingmedia.com

Of paramount importance is that the 787 should carry fare-paying passengers in complete safety and comfort.

Rushing to “slam” the 787 because of “whispers” and delay rumors is both unproductive and unjust - especially when one look no further to Airbus who openly engaged in scaremongering of both composites and twin engine airplanes.

While the tests for the 787 are still continuing, the test of its critics will emerge when they “assess” the A350XWB in the same childish manner they do with the 787 today.

1 comment October 9th, 2007