Free Republic

Patrick Smith returns to Airliners.net with a history of Boeing's most graceful and timeless bird, and tells of how Boeing has recently looked back to its roots to recreate its style. Smith also demonstrates how Boeing’s innovation is exactly what will keep the manufacturer ahead of the competition. In the mid-1960s, the engineers and aerodynamicists at Boeing faced a momentous task. Their assignment: to build the largest commercial jetliner ever conceived—one that would feature twice the tonnage and capacity of any existing plane—and make it pretty. Where to begin? Well, specifically, you begin in the front, and in the back....

LONDON (Reuters) - British Airways launched a long-awaited competition on Tuesday to replace its fleet of 114 long-haul Boeing aircraft, a move that could generate crucial orders for Boeing's rival Airbus. Europe's third-biggest airline, which wants to take delivery of the first new planes by early 2009, said it was too soon to say how many planes it would acquire, although analysts said the bill would be at least $7 billion. An early order date could benefit Boeing, since Airbus is struggling to launch its proposed new mid-sized A350 model -- now set for 2012 deliveries at the earliest --...

Boeing’s decision finally to launch its first major 747 derivatives in nearly 20 years sets the scene for a battle at the high-value top end of the commercial airliner market and throws down the gauntlet to arch-rival Airbus to deliver on its promise that the all-new A380 will dominate the sector. The US manufacturer expects the arrival of its stretched updated passenger and freighter 747 models to constrain sales of the 555-seat A380 to fewer than 500 over the next two decades. This would be achieved by taking more than half of what Boeing projects will be a 900-unit market...