Boeing: In the third attempt, the largest aircraft 777X can finally take off

DThis time it didn’t rain and the wind direction was right. Almost clandestinely, the largest Boeing 777X aircraft to date took off for its first flight in Everett, Washington, early Saturday local time. It was the third attempt on the third day in a row. On Thursday, the plane did not take off for up to 425 passengers due to heavy rain. Then on Friday the wide-body jet was at the runway for a good three hours with the engines running, but was not allowed to take off from the wrong direction due to strong winds. 8,000 employees at the airport on the US west coast wanted to fly away and were disappointed.

But now it worked, with fewer spectators and without much fuss. The giant model took off at 10.10 a.m. and quickly disappeared into the clouds. The premiere flight is said to take four to five hours.

For America’s leading aviation group, the first flight means relief and a sigh of relief, at least for a short time. The aviation giant is in the biggest crisis of its history after the crash of two smaller 737Max models. There needs Boeing good news. But even with the 777X model, not everything runs smoothly. The plane was to take off its first flight a year ago. It is a model of superlatives. The world’s largest engines hang under the wings. With two huge turbines, the 777X is also more economical than a wide-body jet with four engines, such as the giant Airbus A380 or a jumbo jet 747-400, according to the US company.

The technology with the folding wing tips is safe, Boeing asserts

The special features of the model of the large variant 777-9 include the unusually large wings with a wingspan of 72 meters. Above all, the wings made of modern carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) offer a special feature for the passengers, because the outer wing tips can be folded up after landing. The largely new aircraft therefore fits in the same parking spaces as the previous generation 777, which flew for the first time in 1994. Passengers will also make sure that the three and a half meter long wing tips are folded down again before taking off. The mechanism is provided by the German-Swiss Liebherr group. The technology with the folding wing tips is safe, Boeing asserts.

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The engines of General Electric (GE9X) with a diameter of 4.40 meters are even larger than the fuselage diameter of an Airbus A320. The German engine manufacturer MTU Aero Engines, which recently rose to the DAX-30 stock exchange league, also has a four percent share in the drive. In terms of dimensions, the 777-9 model even has a wingspan eight meters longer than a jumbo jet and, with a length of almost 77 meters, also exceeds its length. This makes the 777X even longer than a giant A380, the production of which will end next year. The list price of a 777-9 is $ 442 million. But good customers pay significantly less.

For the premiere flight of the 777-9, Boeing had the symbols of eight airlines painted on the fuselage as previous customers of the aircraft. But the enthusiasm among airlines for the giant model is limited. As a result, Boeing’s economic success is still open. The Lufthansa is one of the first customers of the 777X. When the German airline can definitely use the US model is unclear. After the fiasco with the approval of the 737Max model, the US security authority FAA will take a close look at the 777X with obvious errors in the flight software.

So far, Boeing has been waiting in vain for a major order from China

The major 777X customer Emirates even specifically warned Boeing against delivering the model too quickly and possibly with too many teething problems. “I will not accept an aircraft that has not undergone at least a 16-month test program, although Boeing offered us less,” said Emirates President Tim Clar to aero.de in the fall. “Even the 737Max went through 16-month test Tests – and that was just a reissue of an existing sample. ” Some observers are therefore not expecting to be used by the airlines until mid-2021 or even later.

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Orders have been stagnating since the first orders in 2013. Recently there were even cancellations. For the two versions of the 777X there are still a good 300 firm orders and options in the books, a large part of which is attributable to the airline Emirates, also a major customer of the giant A380. Lufthansa has practically reduced its order from 34 fixed orders to 20 plus 14 options.

To date, Boeing has been waiting in vain for a major order from China. The industry says that some airlines are waiting to see if there are any problems with the flight tests and how robust the engines really are. A little smaller models tend to be preferred, such as the Airbus A350 or the Boeing 787.

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