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Old 06-28-2006, 04:23 PM
  #21  
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Originally Posted by 24/48
Didn't we have 10 firm 787's and 10 options prior to the announcement? If so, are these 10 more 787's or did they just exercise the 10 options?
20 Firm now.
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Old 06-29-2006, 01:36 AM
  #22  
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I also understand CAL is the U.S. launch customer for the 787, though JAL is the first launch customer. This has a lot to do with a majority of the 787 sections are being made in Japan. Perhaps that was an agreement for Boeing.....if you guys buy so many of our planes, we will give you the majority of the contract.

Being the first composite airplane, this will go a long way to help CAL fight back high fuel prices, which are not going away anytime soon...
 
Old 06-29-2006, 06:43 AM
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CONTINENTAL AIRLINES RECEIVES J.D. POWER AND ASSOCIATES
AWARD FOR HIGHEST-RANKED NETWORK AIRLINE



WASHINGTON, D.C., June 29, 2006 – Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) today was ranked the highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Traditional Network Carriers in North America in the J.D. Power and Associates 2006 Airline Satisfaction Index StudySM. The study, conducted by J.D. Power and Associates, surveyed more than 9,000 passengers who were asked to rate their recent airline travel experiences in several categories. Respondents favored Continental Airlines over all the other network carriers. This marks Continental’s sixth customer satisfaction award by J.D. Power and Associates since 1996.

A small group of employees from Continental, including Chairman and CEO Larry Kellner, accepted the award at a news conference in Washington, D.C.

“This award validates the effort we have been making to give our customers a better trip on our airline,” said Kellner. “We have focused a lot on keeping passenger amenities intact while offering clean, safe and reliable travel. On top of that, my co-workers deserve tremendous credit for continuing to deliver the highest level of customer service. The employees who are accepting this award in Washington today are accepting on behalf of all 42,000 people who work so hard to keep our company on top.”

The J.D. Power and Associates study evaluated the airlines in seven key areas:



· Reservations

· Check-in

· Boarding/deplaning/baggage

· Aircraft

· Flight crew

· In-flight services

· Cost & fees



Traditional network airlines are measured separately from low cost airlines because network airlines deliver a more comprehensive set of services and amenities, and their network extends through hub airports involving connections to global markets. These aspects of a trip are more difficult to manage and execute due to more variables and complexity existing in the network airline service delivery process. Additionally, customers surveyed have different expectations from network carriers versus other airlines.

According to the study, business travelers on Continental showed especially strong preference for the carrier. Among network airlines in the study, Continental received the highest satisfaction among business travelers.

During the recent difficult period for the U.S. airline industry, Continental has differentiated itself from low cost and network competitors by retaining many amenities which have been discarded by competitors, including serving free meals at meal times, and offering pillows and blankets in the cabin.

Continental has recently earned other noteworthy recognition, including:



No. 1 Most Admired Global Airline; FORTUNE magazine (three years in a row)

No. 1 Most Admired U.S. Airline; FORTUNE magazine

Best Executive/Business Class; OAG Airline of the Year Awards (four years in a row)

Best Airline Based in North America; OAG Airline of the Year Awards (three years in a row)

Best Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Pacific Business Class among U.S. airlines; Condé Nast Traveler (eight years in a row)
 
Old 06-30-2006, 04:19 PM
  #24  
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If you look up the details of the 787, it is being made all over the world. It is assembled in Seattle. Japan has a big chunk of it.
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Old 06-30-2006, 07:21 PM
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[Sorry this article is so long]

U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo planes made by The Boeing Co. depart regularly from the airport here headed for Iraq.

Starting next year, much bigger cargo planes, modified 747s known as Large Cargo Freighters, will fly out of the same airport and head for Everett. They will carry much of the composite fuselage of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner.

"The best job in Charleston is going to be the popcorn stand vendor when those LCFs start flying and all the school kids come out to watch," said C.P. "Newt" Newton, vice president and general manager of Global Aeronautica, a joint venture between the Italian company Alenia and Texas-based Vought Aircraft Industries.

Vought and Alenia will build more than 60 percent of the 787 fuselage.

Two new plants about 200 yards apart have been built for production and assembly of 787 fuselage sections. The land is adjacent to what serves as a joint Air Force base and Charleston's civilian airport.

"We are at the 2-yard line and ready to cross that goal line and score a touchdown," said Mark Dickey, general manager of the Vought production plant.

The first fuselage sections are scheduled to leave the Charleston airport for Everett on the Large Cargo Freighter early in the second quarter of 2007, Newton said. First flight of the 787 will be later that year, possibly August or September, with All Nippon Airways of Japan taking delivery of the first plane in May 2008.


First for industry

The 787 represents a technological leap over today's jetliners. It will be the industry's first large commercial jetliner with a composite fuselage -- almost the entire airframe is made of carbon fiber. It will be much more fuel efficient than current jets.

Boeing's manufacturing plan for the Dreamliner is just as revolutionary. It calls for Boeing's partners in Italy, Japan, South Carolina and in Wichita, Kan., to supply large completed structures that will be joined together during final assembly of the plane in the Everett plant. This will reduce the time required in final assembly and make for a more efficient production system, according to Boeing.

"The 787 represents the innovation of our industry," said Vincenzo Caiazo, chief operating officer of Alenia's North American subsidiary.

Even Boeing's supply chain is part of the 787 innovation march, he said.

The 50-50 partnership between Alenia and Vought, he said, represents a new business model in an industry where the two companies are usually fierce competitors.

"It is a novel relationship. Global Aeronautica will be remembered as a pioneer in the aerospace arena."

Scott Strode, vice president of 787 program development, said the initial batch of 787s will probably spend about a month in final assembly. As lessons are learned and as production rates are increased, Boeing should be able to get that down to about six days, he said. The goal would be to one day cut that in half, to no more than three days in final assembly.

Boeing's 777 requires about 18 days in final assembly today -- and that kind of production efficiency has come only after some 500 planes have been delivered since 1995.

"We still think we can eventually get it down to three days," Strode said of the 787 assembly time.


Fuselage assembly

Vought will manufacture the aft fuselage -- two sections totaling about 38 feet in length that will be flown to Everett as one piece.

Alenia will make two center fuselage sections in Italy -- one just aft of the wing and the crown section that goes above the wing. Those two sections will be flown to Charleston to be mated in the Global Aeronautica plant with two sections manufactured in Nagoya, Japan, by Fuji and Kawasaki heavy industries. Fuji will make the center wing box and Kawasaki a fuselage section just in front of the wing, as well as the main landing gear wheel well that attaches to the Fuji wing box.

When the Italian and Japanese elements are connected in Charleston, the fuselage assembly that is flown to Everett will be 84 feet long and 18 feet in diameter.

Alenia also is manufacturing in Italy the 787 horizontal stabilizer on the tail. It will arrive in Charleston with the two Alenia sections before being flown to Everett, probably on the same plane that carries the Vought-made aft fuselage.

The composite wings, from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, will be flown from Nagoya to Everett. The forward fuselage, including the nose and cockpit, will be supplied by Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita. Spirit acquired Boeing's commercial operations in Wichita last year.

All these large pieces of the Dreamliner will be flown to Everett on the modified 747s, which have a bulging upper fuselage and are being modified in Taiwan. Boeing will use three of the cargo planes to transport the Dreamliner assemblies and may need more, depending on the ultimate production rate that is still being decided.

The Large Cargo Freighter will become a familiar sight around the Seattle area later this summer when flight testing of the first plane gets under way at Boeing Field.


Charleston plant

In Charleston, the Vought production plant is a just-completed 342,000-square-foot building on 240 acres of what a year ago was forest next to the airport. Both it and the Global Aeronautica plant were built to withstand a Category 5 hurricane or a 7.2 magnitude earthquake.

Manufacturing of the Vought composite sections will be done in a 70,000-square-foot "clean room" by an automatic fiber placement machine. Robotic arms will apply layers of composite material to a contoured tool surface.

A traditional aluminum fuselage would require many pieces of metal held together by thousands of rivets and fasteners. For the 787 fuselage, large one-piece composite barrels will be produced.

From the clean room the fuselage sections will be moved into an autoclave for curing. It measures 30 feet in diameter and is 75 feet long -- the world's largest autoclave by volume, according to Vought.

"This is essentially a boiler, just like a steamship," Newton said of the autoclave, which cooks the composite material under a pressure of about 195 pounds per square inch and a temperature of more than 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Two 700 horsepower fans circulate the hot air in the autoclave.

The curing process will take eight to 10 hours.

Windows and doors will be cut out of the fuselage sections and an ultrasonic machine will send sound waves through the composite layers to make sure there were no manufacturing flaws.

Finally, Vought workers will "stuff" the fuselage sections with wiring, systems and electronics.

Workers in the Global Aeronautics building will do the same thing with the fuselage sections from Japan and Italy. As much as possible, this kind of work will be completed here, not in Everett.


Plants provide 700 jobs

For the first seven planes, the two Vought fuselage sections will be joined in the Vought plant. After that, they will be joined in the Global Aeronautica plant.

At 350,000 square feet, the Global Aeronautica plant is about the same size as the Vought building.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said recently the $560 million complex is the second-largest single industrial investment in the state since BMW built an auto plant here in the early 1990s.

The state needs these kinds of jobs. An article this month in The Economist magazine painted an unflattering picture of South Carolina, a state with one of the nation's highest unemployment rates that ranks near the bottom of the 50 states in per capita income and SAT scores.

The two plants eventually will hire 700 or more workers. The average wage will be about $50,000, though that includes management jobs. That's a very good wage for the Charleston area, whose main industry is tourism.

About 50 people work at the Vought plant now. That will increase to about 100 by the end of the year and peak at around 375 in 2011.

Employment at the Global plant will eventually peak at about 400. Fewer than 50 work there now.

Workers for both plants will be trained at a local technical college as well as on the site. The training center next to the Global plant even has a working miniature autoclave. The basic training program takes about 12 weeks.

About six months ago, the companies held a jobs fair in Charleston. They expected 600 people might show up. More than 3,000 came. Job applications were gone within 45 minutes.
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Old 06-30-2006, 07:23 PM
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Originally Posted by jmc1007
I also understand CAL is the U.S. launch customer for the 787, though JAL is the first launch customer.
nope...NWA will fly the first 787, unless we are trying to revive merger rumors....
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Old 06-30-2006, 07:37 PM
  #27  
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Originally Posted by reddog25
nope...NWA will fly the first 787, unless we are trying to revive merger rumors....
True. Strangely CAL made their order on 12/29/2004 for 10 airframes with a delivery date of '09 while NWA placed their order for 18 on 05/05/05 with a August '08 delivery time-frame.
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Old 07-03-2006, 02:59 AM
  #28  
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Does anyone on this board have the Chief Pilots name and address in EWR?
 
Old 07-03-2006, 03:05 AM
  #29  
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CAL's order is now a firm 20. I don't see how NWA can plan on purchasing even 18 being in bankruptcy. I really do not see that deal going through, unless they have improvements.

CAL's orders are based on strong financial backing. A lot can happen in 3 years for NWA shakey foundations.
 
Old 07-03-2006, 03:42 PM
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[QUOTE=jmc1007]CAL's order is now a firm 20. I don't see how NWA can plan on purchasing even 18 being in bankruptcy. I really do not see that deal going through, unless they have improvements.
QUOTE]

Bankruptcy often is just a tool used by corp lawyers and Coke bottled eyeglass CPA bean counters to restructure debt. Translated into slashing costs by reniging (defaulting) on prior legal agreements.LAbor Contracts, Gate and Aircraft Leases etc.

A company doesn't have to be (and often isn't) broke when they declare bankruptcy.
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