Thursday, May 12, 2016

Boeing has just 12 of its 'Terrible Teen' 787 Dreamliners left to deliver

Top Boeing executives had to confer for a moment Wednesday to remember how many of the oldest 787 Dreamliners are yet to be delivered.

Speaking at Boeing’s annual investor conference, they finally agreed there are a dozen left.

“There are about 12 in inventory,” said Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Ray Conner. “We will deliver a handful over this year, and another over the course of next year."

The jets Conner cited, often called the “Terrible Teens,” were the very first versions of the 787 Dreamliner that Boeing built. They required significant retrofits to be made flight worthy, which have made them overweight compared to the Dreamliners Boeing is now assembling. As a result, it has been difficult to find buyers for them.

Now, though, it appears Boeing has been able to sell most of them. Just two of the early aircraft still need buyers, Nos. 4 and 5, Conner said. The remaining 10 have been sold but not yet delivered.

Boeing likely will sell the two remaining jets to individual buyers as personal jets because they’ll be different enough from lighter jets now being built that they won’t be serviceable in most airlines’ fleets.


Boeing donated the earliest three Dreamliners to three museums around the world, the first to the Seattle Museum of Flight.

While Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners list for $225 million each, the 12 will sell for far less.

Boeing so far has delivered 403 Dreamliners and has unfilled orders for another 751.

Boeing has now raised Dreamliner monthly production to 12 between its Everett and North Charleston, South Carolina plants, which is a record for any wide-body jet. The company plans to lift production to 14 planes per month.

(Steve Wilhelm - Puget Sound Business Journal)

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