The Elusive McNerney:some historical perspective

The Wall Street Journal has a long profile on the elusive Jim McNerney, CEO of The Boeing Co., and his role in the 787 crisis. (Subscription required.) The story is detailed. For those of us who follow Boeing… Read More

Boeing hopes for March or April return for 787; we think this is challenging

Update: Aviation Week’s Guy Norris has this detailed article in which the third week of March is identified as a target date for the 787 to re-enter service. Original Post: Boeing hopes to return the grounded 787 to… Read More

SPEEA-Boeing contract vote count underway-and we are there

It’s Tuesday evening, Feb. 19, and we are at SPEEA headquarters to watch the ballot counting on the contract vote offered by Boeing. It’s 6:25pm and it’s too soon to spot a trend. However, as we watched the… Read More

787 battery diagrams

Boeing Monday (Feb. 18) made available two battery diagrams for the 787 lithium-ion batteries. Diagram #1 Diagram #2 The New York Times has a Reuters article revealing the second battery on the ANA 787 had some swelling. Boeing… Read More

Odds and Ends: 787 likely grounded to May; More Batteries; Boeing’s 10K

787 Battery short-term fix: The Seattle Times has this story which recounts Boeing’s effort to design a short-term fix to get the 787 fleet flying again. The scenario outlined in the article suggests the 787 will be grounded… Read More

Airbus drops lithium battery for A350

Airbus, A350 and Lithium battery: Airbus has dropped plans to use the lithium-ion battery in the A350. An Airbus official told us, “We confirm we are opting for nickel cadmium for the A350 main batteries to protect the… Read More

PNAA Conference: Aboulafia on CSeries, 777X, 787-10 and A350

Bombardier has an uphill battle selling CSeries in part because of the production might of Airbus and Boeing, says Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group. With the two big OEMs each producing the single-aisle airplanes at rates of… Read More

Odds and Ends: ICAO says no to lithium batteries;Dendrites and the 787; Deleting Flightblogger

ICAO says no to lithium-ion batteries: The UN organization ICAO apparently will reverse itself and say that lithium-ion batteries should not be shipped as cargo on passenger airliners. This seems like a prudent move, considering the history of… Read More

Odds and Ends: Returning the 787 to service; Elon Musk’s Tesla challenges; Droning on

Consensus Building around 787 Fix: There seems to be a consensus building in industry around the timing of the battery fix for the Boeing 787. Customers and suppliers we talk to believe Boeing will have an interim fix… Read More

787 Completes first battery test flight: Flightaware track

(Click to enlarge image.) Boeing issued this statement: ZA005, Boeing’s fifth 787 flight test airplane, departed from Boeing Field at 12:32 p.m. Pacific time on Saturday, Jan. 9, with a crew of 13 onboard (Boeing pilots and flight… Read More