By Jim Hammerand
Managing Editor, Puget Sound Business Journal
Jan 9, 2018, 10:34pm
Boeing is likely to deliver more of its long-haul 787 Dreamliners than ever before in 2018.
Thats according to investment banker Uresh Sheth, who runs the All Things 787 blog and tracks deliveries of the fuel-efficient widebodies to airlines and other buyers.
Boeing currently makes 12 Dreamliners a month, with assembly plants in Everett and North Charleston, South Carolina.
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg announced in September that the Chicago-based jet maker would boost production to 14 a month early in 2019.
Boeing said on Tuesday it delivered 136 Dreamliners in 2017, the exact number that Sheth tracked before Boeing announced its year-end tally.
He expects 147 Dreamliner deliveries in 2018, based on the 12 aircraft per month rate, the start of deliveries of the stretch 787-10 model in the first half of the year and expected delivery of three of the 787-10 flight test airplanes to airline customers in the second half. The flight test fleet is based at Seattle's Boeing Field.
Boeing Dreamliner 787-10 test flight
The first Dreamliner 787-10 test flight took place in Charleston, South Carolina, but flying the new jet were two of Boeing's best test pilots from the Puget Sound region, Captains Tim Berg and Mike Bryan. More testing is ongoing at Boeing Field.
Sheth's projection for 2018 would top the 137 Dreamliners delivered in 2016.
"The introduction of the 787-10 into the production system last year pulled down the delivery rate for 2017 but now it is fully integrated into Charleston's production process," Sheth writes.
He expects 10 deliveries of the 787-8, 121 deliveries of the 787-9 and 16 deliveries of the 787-10.
Everett will deliver 80 of the jets (including all of the 787-8 and 70 of the 787-9), while North Charleston will deliver 67 Dreamliners (including all of the 787-10 jets).
A big year for Dreamliners means more work for the specially modified Boeing 747 cargo jets used to fly wings, fuselages and other large parts from global suppliers to Washington and South Carolina for final assembly.
https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2018/01/09/boeing-787-dreamliner-deliveries-forecast-2018.html
