If Boeing has a backlog of 527 orders for the 787..why not shut down the 747 line, and retool it to make the 787?
That would mean building more 787s in Washington State, right?
I thought Boeing was trying to shift as much 787 work as possible to the new plant in South Carolina, due to Union-related issues.
Not the 787, the 777 - which is exactly the right aircraft for international airlines. Big enough, efficient enough, and luxurious enough. The 777 has been a huge winner for Boeing, and the 747’s death was predestined the day the 777 went into service. It has held on longer than I expected.
Because they have 39 remaining orders for 747s that they have to fill.
I think the backlog is not necessarily the number of planes past due for delivery this year, but the total number of planes due today and in out years.
If I ran an airline I might only want x number of 787s this year, y in 2016 and z in 2017. For Gamecock Air x+y+z=my contribution to the Boeing back log.
They do have some planes past due, but a lot of that is supply chain issues along with lingering repercussions from early production issues. They have some planes ready for delivery to American Airlines parked out in the desert waiting for new business class seats to be delivered by the manufacturer.
The 787 is built very differently than a 747. Also most of it is built at a lot of subcontractor locations. This makes ramping up that pipeline rather complicated.
It is an extremely expensive and long process to retool aircraft assembly. It would take longer to retool than it would to just wait out for the new orders.
(recovering aircraft engineer here)