Now that the whole strike and fastener ruckus has been sorted out at Boeing, manufacturing is back in full swing on the 787 Dreamliner. The Chicago based company is so confident in their progress that they’ve actually announced another first flight and delivery date for their long heralded aircraft. As of last week, the two respective events are slated for second quarter of ’09 and for the first quarter of ’10.
Not that that means anything. Delivery schedules have been set and broken by the airframe manufacturer a half-dozen times, and by this point, nobody really expects them to hit the milestones. We’ll keep our fingers crossed though.
As for when Joe-consumer gets to ride in a Dreamliner, your first chance domestically should be on Delta Airlines, who now have the rights to Northwest‘s early commitment to purchase 18 787-9’s. Word in the underground though is that Delta might be interested in converting the order to 777’s though, so we may have to wait even longer than that.