787 – don’t rush

Business Travel News continues to monitor reader site visits with the continuing Boeing 787 story easily the most popular.  Our regular travellers, flight bookers and the industry itself clearly want to keep up to date with the ‘soap opera of the sky’.

The Dreamliner saga is a very serious misfortune currently being played out in Seattle, Washington and to a lesser extent Tokyo.  Fortunately, unlike aviation dramas of the past, there have been no fatal accidents.  BTN, like everyone, is confident that the problems will be solved.

Last Monday (25 March) a 787 Dreamliner took to the sky for the first time for two months on a test flight aimed at showing that the plane's new lithium-ion battery system met safety standards. 

There have been no significant moves since then but Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel said that the two-hour flight "went according to plan".

On 24 April Boeing will announce its first quarter results.  At that point the financial implications will become more apparent.  Typical of customer airlines, British Airways is being sanguine regarding its first delivery, planned for June, all its marketing efforts seemingly now directed at the Airbus A380 (see BTN 11 March).  For the time being the 767 continues in service. www.ba.com

Index/Home page
 

OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum