Orders for Boeing 777-300ER may hinge on even mightier engines
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Orders for Boeing 777-300ER may hinge on even mightier engines
Wednesday, November 20, 2002
By JAMES WALLACE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
While many leading airlines are holding back on costly expansion plans to wait out the current industry downturn, Emirates, one of the fastest-growing airlines in the world and already the largest Arab airline, is making plans to more than double its fleet over the next several years.
And those plans could include as many as 25 of The Boeing Co.'s new longer-range 777 that made its public debut last week during an elaborate rollout ceremony at the company's Everett plant.
That would be more than half again as many orders as the 777-300ER now has from seven airlines and leasing companies.
Boeing and Emirates are in discussions about the airline taking the new 777-300ER, said Ray Conner, Boeing's vice president and general manager of 777 programs.
At the Dubai Air Show last November, Emirates announced it would buy 25 Boeing 777s. But that commitment, which has never been finalized into a firm order, was for existing versions of the 777, not the new longer-range model.
Emirates is interested in possibly switching its entire 25-plane order to the 777-300ER, Conner said. The airline has said it could end up even ordering more than 25 planes as it adds flights in an expansion that will eventually include destinations in the United States.
But any deal for the 777-300ER could hinge on the plane's mighty engines.
The twin-engine, long-haul plane will have the world's most powerful engines, developed by General Electric. The GE90-115B for the 777-300ER will be certified at 115,000 pounds of thrust.
For year-around operations on some long-haul routes from its hot-weather Dubai hub, though, Emirates would like the engine to have even more thrust. Hot weather affects performance. Conner, however, said the 777-300ER would be able to meet nearly all of Emirates' route requirements with the 115,000-pound thrust engine.
Dick Ostrom, GE's advanced product integration manager for the GE90 series engines, said he expects the new engine for the 777-300ER to be capable in future derivatives of at least 120,000 pounds of thrust, more than enough for Emirates. As part of the ongoing certification process, the GE90-115B engine has already been tested well above 120,000 pounds of thrust.
There is not yet any program under way at the GE engine unit to develop a more powerful version, Ostrom said. He was among several General Electric executives at last week's rollout of the 777-300ER.
Boeing's current fleet of 777-200s and 777-300s are powered by GE, Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney engines producing 90,000 to 100,000 pounds of thrust.
GE won an exclusive contract from Boeing to produce the more powerful engine of the 777-300ER. It had hoped to have the GE90-115B engine certified next month.
But certification is about six weeks behind schedule after a problem was found during a recent engine test, said Chaker Chahrour, program manager for the GE engine unit. During what's known as a "triple red-line" endurance test, one of several engines being used in the test program developed "distress" in a fan blade, Chahrour said. That has delayed certification until around the end of January, he said.
The engine does not need to be certified before Boeing can begin test flights of the 777-300ER, which is scheduled to begin early next year.
Two 777-300ERs will spend about 12 months in flight testing before the first plane -- the third plane down the production line -- is delivered in early 2004 to Air France.
With a longer wingspan to hold more fuel, the 777-300ER can carry 365 passengers up to 7,250 nautical miles. That's about 1,200 nautical miles farther than the current 777-300. The 777-300ER has 49 firm orders to date, so a 25-plane order from Emirates would go a long way to firmly establishing the 777-300ER in the long-haul market even before it enters service.
In addition to Air France, which has ordered 10 of the jets, customers for the 777-300ER are: Pakistan International Airlines, three planes; Japan Airlines, eight planes; All Nippon Airways, six planes; EVA of Taiwan, four planes; International Lease Finance Corp., eight planes; and GE Capital, 10 planes.
The long-range market is being hotly contested by Boeing and Airbus as airlines, many in Asia, want planes that can fly farther than ever. The first Airbus entry in this market, the A340-600, recently entered service with Virgin Atlantic Airlines.
Even though the 777-300ER will not arrive on the scene until early 2004, industry analysts say it should continue to give Boeing a winning long-haul hand. The 777 has outsold the A340 family, which entered service first. Emirates is also a potential customer for the four-engine A340-600.
At the Dubai Air Show last year, it signed a deal with Airbus to buy eight of the planes. They would be a not-yet developed version with slightly bigger engines and a higher takeoff weight.
Some of the Airbus planes would be introduced on a new New York route. Emirates also has plans to eventually fly to the West Coast.
The airline has ordered 22 of the Airbus A380 superjumbo jets now in development. It's all part of an expansion that will see Emirates increase its fleet from 44 widebody jets today to 110 in seven years.
Emirates now operates 18 777s, with several more on order. The pending order for additional 777s would not be signed until next year.
A 777-300ER order for 25 planes would be worth more than $6 billion at list prices and would help Boeing fill out its 2003 order book, which is likely to be pretty slim as a result of the industry downturn.
By JAMES WALLACE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
While many leading airlines are holding back on costly expansion plans to wait out the current industry downturn, Emirates, one of the fastest-growing airlines in the world and already the largest Arab airline, is making plans to more than double its fleet over the next several years.
And those plans could include as many as 25 of The Boeing Co.'s new longer-range 777 that made its public debut last week during an elaborate rollout ceremony at the company's Everett plant.
That would be more than half again as many orders as the 777-300ER now has from seven airlines and leasing companies.
Boeing and Emirates are in discussions about the airline taking the new 777-300ER, said Ray Conner, Boeing's vice president and general manager of 777 programs.
At the Dubai Air Show last November, Emirates announced it would buy 25 Boeing 777s. But that commitment, which has never been finalized into a firm order, was for existing versions of the 777, not the new longer-range model.
Emirates is interested in possibly switching its entire 25-plane order to the 777-300ER, Conner said. The airline has said it could end up even ordering more than 25 planes as it adds flights in an expansion that will eventually include destinations in the United States.
But any deal for the 777-300ER could hinge on the plane's mighty engines.
The twin-engine, long-haul plane will have the world's most powerful engines, developed by General Electric. The GE90-115B for the 777-300ER will be certified at 115,000 pounds of thrust.
For year-around operations on some long-haul routes from its hot-weather Dubai hub, though, Emirates would like the engine to have even more thrust. Hot weather affects performance. Conner, however, said the 777-300ER would be able to meet nearly all of Emirates' route requirements with the 115,000-pound thrust engine.
Dick Ostrom, GE's advanced product integration manager for the GE90 series engines, said he expects the new engine for the 777-300ER to be capable in future derivatives of at least 120,000 pounds of thrust, more than enough for Emirates. As part of the ongoing certification process, the GE90-115B engine has already been tested well above 120,000 pounds of thrust.
There is not yet any program under way at the GE engine unit to develop a more powerful version, Ostrom said. He was among several General Electric executives at last week's rollout of the 777-300ER.
Boeing's current fleet of 777-200s and 777-300s are powered by GE, Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney engines producing 90,000 to 100,000 pounds of thrust.
GE won an exclusive contract from Boeing to produce the more powerful engine of the 777-300ER. It had hoped to have the GE90-115B engine certified next month.
But certification is about six weeks behind schedule after a problem was found during a recent engine test, said Chaker Chahrour, program manager for the GE engine unit. During what's known as a "triple red-line" endurance test, one of several engines being used in the test program developed "distress" in a fan blade, Chahrour said. That has delayed certification until around the end of January, he said.
The engine does not need to be certified before Boeing can begin test flights of the 777-300ER, which is scheduled to begin early next year.
Two 777-300ERs will spend about 12 months in flight testing before the first plane -- the third plane down the production line -- is delivered in early 2004 to Air France.
With a longer wingspan to hold more fuel, the 777-300ER can carry 365 passengers up to 7,250 nautical miles. That's about 1,200 nautical miles farther than the current 777-300. The 777-300ER has 49 firm orders to date, so a 25-plane order from Emirates would go a long way to firmly establishing the 777-300ER in the long-haul market even before it enters service.
In addition to Air France, which has ordered 10 of the jets, customers for the 777-300ER are: Pakistan International Airlines, three planes; Japan Airlines, eight planes; All Nippon Airways, six planes; EVA of Taiwan, four planes; International Lease Finance Corp., eight planes; and GE Capital, 10 planes.
The long-range market is being hotly contested by Boeing and Airbus as airlines, many in Asia, want planes that can fly farther than ever. The first Airbus entry in this market, the A340-600, recently entered service with Virgin Atlantic Airlines.
Even though the 777-300ER will not arrive on the scene until early 2004, industry analysts say it should continue to give Boeing a winning long-haul hand. The 777 has outsold the A340 family, which entered service first. Emirates is also a potential customer for the four-engine A340-600.
At the Dubai Air Show last year, it signed a deal with Airbus to buy eight of the planes. They would be a not-yet developed version with slightly bigger engines and a higher takeoff weight.
Some of the Airbus planes would be introduced on a new New York route. Emirates also has plans to eventually fly to the West Coast.
The airline has ordered 22 of the Airbus A380 superjumbo jets now in development. It's all part of an expansion that will see Emirates increase its fleet from 44 widebody jets today to 110 in seven years.
Emirates now operates 18 777s, with several more on order. The pending order for additional 777s would not be signed until next year.
A 777-300ER order for 25 planes would be worth more than $6 billion at list prices and would help Boeing fill out its 2003 order book, which is likely to be pretty slim as a result of the industry downturn.
