767 in very rare position

Boeing is in an extremely rare position with the 767 program. The design is 34 years old, and about to face a production ramp up, by a full aircraft per month. Production rates have been at 1.5 a month, with Boeing planning to ramp up to 2 a month in the first quarter of 2016, but based on recent events they are planning to ramp that up to 2.5 a month by late 2017.

While there has been some resurgence due to the KC-46 award, more surprisingly is the fact that FedEx has ordered 48 more aircraft. That places it a mere 5 behind the 787 and 8 behind the 777 in orders in 2015. It's possible that there will be another ramp up, if Boeing wins the KC-Y program as well. FedEx has ordered 100 of the last 105 aircraft ordered. They have seen an increase in reliability, and while they haven't seen as much increase in savings, that's as much because of oil prices dropping as it is the aircraft. Boeing is hoping that between the tanker and FedEx orders, they may see some more orders for 767s.

While the near-term future of the current-generation Airbus A330 and Boeing 777 programs is tinted with concern over how much to cut production rates, the widebody program that those two aircraft were supposed to all but finish off is expanding.

Bolstered by a huge order from FedEx and its selection as the new U.S. Air Force tanker platform, the Boeing 767 is in rare air: a 34-year-old widebody airliner program gearing up for a production-rate increase. The boost to 2.5 aircraft per month in late 2017 will follow closely in the contrails of the announced boost from 1.5 per month to two per month starting in the first quarter of 2016.

“During the third quarter we made the decision to increase the 767 production rate to 2.5 per month starting in 2017, driven by ongoing strong demand for the 767 freighter on top of the existing planned tanker production base,” Boeing President and CEO Dennis Muilenburg said in October.

aviationweek.com...

Do you have any idea if they're still cranking out a triple 7 at Paine Field every 3 days...?

Curious..

a reply to: GBP/JPY

Not quite every three days. It was at 8.3 a month in April. They had six up there when we did the tour. Three were on their wheels with wings and fuselage joined, and three had all their pieces and were starting assembly.

They're preparing to slow it though. They have to stretch the line until the 777-8 and -9 are ready to start.

a reply to: Zaphod58

The idea of anything produced in single or double digits per MONTH is awesome to me. Every single copy a precision-managed project. A Field Marshal's dream job.

a reply to: dogstar23

It was really interesting to do the tour and see the different assembly methods. All the aircraft are done completely differently, but they all work really well for each model.

The 747 has the sections assembled in different locations, and moved to where the wings are cooked, and then they are all joined, it's put on its wheels, the interior and engines are installed, power on is done, etc. Then they roll it out to paint and fuel testing.

The 787 was found that the fastest way to do it is to gather all the pieces at once, then move it to assembly, and assemble in place. Then after its put on its wheels it's moved forward to the interior installation, engines, power on, etc before going out to paint and fuel.

The 777 tried something totally new, and unprecedented. The pieces are put onto a platform that moves a few feet every hour or something like that. The piece are assembled, wiring installed, etc as it moves. Then when it reaches a certain point, the platform splits in two. The forward fuselage does a 180, the wings are placed behind it, and then the rear fuselage turns around as well. The pieces move together, and it's assembled and put on its wheels. Then it does as the others and goes to interior installation, engines, etc.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
It's possible that there will be another ramp up, if Boeing wins the KC-Y program as well.

That's still a thing? I'm assuming they'd offer -300 or -400 fuselages? I'd think the 777 would be closer in capability to the -10 though.

a reply to: justwanttofly

They're not going to have a choice. The KC-46 is only replacing 179 aircraft. That's going to leave 239 KC-135s and 59 KC-10s that still need replacing.

777-9.....
I gotta go read up....give some reading material, thank you........I do get tired of working in Sky Vector...that's my google earth.

edit....: 777-9, the first member of the 777x series....an airliner named X....a commercial airliner.....as long as they don't paint an X on it.

he he



edit....Will have wingspan of 235 feet, 5 inches (71.8 meters) I had no idea.....a totaly friggin awesome display of wingspan horsepower....

a reply to: GBP/JPY

It's no longer the X series, just the 777-8 and 777-9. It's also going to have the original folding wingtips that they were supposed to put on the classic 777s.