Putting to rest all questions about its safety and stability of the aircraft, Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner registered its 1,000 customer order with Etihad Airways announcing an order for 30 787-10 Dreamliners valued at $8.7 billion.
In a statement issued in New Delhi, Boeing said with this order, the Dreamliner family has reached this sales milestone faster than any other wide body airplane in aviation history. Launched in April 2004, the 787 family received its 1000 order in approximately nine years, about eight years faster than the popular Boeing 777. Now the 787 Dreamliner has accumulated 1,012 orders from 60 customers worldwide.
“Our ongoing investment in the 787 is well-founded and is apparent by the record time in which the Dreamliner family received its 1,000 order,” Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and CEO Ray Conner said in a statement. With this, Etihad now has 71, 787 Dreamliners on order and is the world's largest airline customer for the airplane.
In addition to bringing big-jet ranges to midsize airplanes, the 787 family provides airlines with unmatched fuel efficiency, resulting in exceptional environmental performance. The airplane uses at least 20 per cent less fuel with 20 per cent fewer emissions than today’s similarly sized airplanes. Airlines also realise more cargo revenue capacity - a 20 to 45 per cent advantage over similarly sized airplanes. Till date, 102, 787 Dreamliners have been delivered to 16 customers around the world.
The 787-10 will be the third and longest member of the family. With its greater passenger and cargo capacity and high degree of commonality, the 787-10 will set a new benchmark for fuel efficiency and operating economics.
The 787-10 will be 25 per cent more efficient than airplanes of its size today and more than 10 percent better than anything offered by the competition for the future. Final assembly and flight test of the 787-10 are set to begin in 2017, with first delivery targeted for 2018.
