The Victorious Opposition

This is a very exciting event, particularly for us up in the PNW, where just about everyone knows someone working on the “8-7”.  It is truly a next generation jet liner and represents a superior market strategy over its main competitor.  While Airbus got sucked into the “bigger is better” mentality with the A380, Boeing saw that the future of airline travel is not in the old hub-and-spoke model of trunk and feeder lines, but in a greater number of direct routes, and thus built an aircraft to compete in that new future.  A lot of hard work by a lot of really skilled people went into this AMERICAN-led project.  I’m really looking forward to my first flight on one.  Congratulations, Boeing!

The 7E7 strategy was far superior to the A380. Where Boeing bit off more than they could chew, though, was the global supply chain. Unfortunately the 787 is as delayed as the A380 was, and has opened a window for the A350XWB. Boeing has had a ton of cancellations for the 787, although I believe it is still the most successful launch of any airliner in history (as measured by pre-delivery sales). Airbus is still dealing with quality and production-volume issues with the A380, so if Boeing can get back on track and keep the quality up, they can probably recapture the momentum from the A350.

It’s a slick-looking airplane all around, though. And reportedly a lot of the innovations made for the cabin interior will be retrofit to the 737 and 777 production lines (which will be interesting, given that the 787 is differently proportioned, because of its composite structures).

The 7E7 strategy was far superior to the A380. Where Boeing bit off more than they could chew, though, was the global supply chain.

You are so right on the money here.  Beyond the more public accounts of supply chain issues, I know a few people in the Global Partners group that have shared with me some of their gripes about the global supply chain strategy.

Yay. First flight at about 10:15AM PST.

I got to see the takeoff online.  It was really cool seeing the extra flex in the wing due to the composite construction.

Yeah, I noticed that too when watching the webcast - I commented on it to my wife, because I hadn’t realized it was that extreme. I wonder if it’s that visible from inside the plane. If it is, they’re going to need to educate the flying public or people are going to freak out about the wings coming off or some stupid shit like that.