Boeing 777X Starts Maiden Flight
January 25 2020 - 1:39PM
Dow Jones News
By Doug Cameron
Boeing Co.'s new 777X jetliner took off on its maiden flight
Saturday, starting the clock on expected reforms in how regulators
approve aircraft for service in the wake of two fatal crashes
involving 737 MAX planes.
The twin-aisle 777X is a refresh of a best-selling model that
first flew in 1995. It is already behind schedule following
technical problems and is due to enter service during a downturn in
orders for larger planes that has forced Boeing to trim production
rates.
The first 777X took off from a Boeing production facility north
of Seattle after two previous efforts were scrubbed last week
because of poor weather.
Dubai-based Emirates Airline is due to receive the first 777X,
but Boeing has had to push deliveries back until next year,
following problems with new GE9X engines made by General Electric
Co. The plane can seat more than 400 passengers.
The delivery timing hinges on how regulators progress with the
certification of the 777X, which is being scrutinized -- like the
737 MAX -- as a derivative of an existing design rather than an
all-new aircraft.
David Calhoun, Boeing's new chief executive, this week said
certification is set to change for all new planes amid the ongoing
review of the MAX.
"The certification process is a new one and it's going to get
applied to every next airplane, so we have a lot of planning to do
around the 777X, etc., to make sure that we can accommodate a
really thorough review and investigation," he told reporters. "It's
just the way it's going to be."
Overseas regulators, including the European Union Aviation
Safety Agency, have indicated they will conduct a parallel review
of the 777X, a departure from established practice in which they
have usually deferred to the decisions of the Federal Aviation
Administration.
Over the years, EASA, as the Cologne, Germany-based agency is
known, and the FAA have worked out procedures to rely extensively
on each other to lead safety approval of new aircraft on either
side of the Atlantic, typically with limited involvement by the
other agency.
The uncertainty over when the 777X will enter service coincides
with a sluggish recent order history. Boeing has firm orders for
309 of the jets from nine customers, 200 of them from the Middle
East trio of Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways.
Production of the existing 777 has already been cut to around
3.5 a month, and could be trimmed further as Boeing works through
the 777X certification. Boeing is also considering a cut in monthly
output of the smaller 787 jetliner to 12 from 14 later this
year.
Write to Doug Cameron at doug.cameron@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 25, 2020 14:24 ET (19:24 GMT)
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