Commercial Airliners
The large airliner market is dominated by two companies: Airbus, a Western European aviation manufacturer, and Boeing, based in the United States. With the emergence of Airbus as a competitor to Boeing, both companies, backed by their respective governments. Lets see what they got.
Boeing 737 series
The 737 was born out of Boeing's need to introduce a competitor in the short-range, small capacity jetliner market which had been pioneered by the Sud Aviation Caravelle, BAC 1-11 and the Douglas DC-9. While Boeing had originally planned for a 60 to 85 seat airplane, consultation with launch customer Lufthansa resulted in a change to 100 seats. The Lufthansa order was made after the airline reportedly received assurances from Boeing that the 737 would not be cancelled because of lack of orders.
Boeing was far behind its competitors when the 737 was launched, as rival aircraft were already into flight
certification. To speed up the development time, Boeing reused 60 percent of the structure and systems of the existing 707, most notably the fuselage cross section, which permitted six-abreast seating compared to the rival 1-11 and DC-9's five-abreast layout.
Significantly, the widened cross-section and short fuselage complicated the aerodynamics of the planned aft-mounted engines. As a result, engineers decided to mount the nacelles on pylons directly to the underside of the wings; specifically, this kept the aircraft low to the ground for easy ramp operations. Later in the 737's life when high-bypass turbofans were fitted, design changes to the engine pods were required for ground clearance.
The final assembly of the 737 was adjacent to Boeing Field (now officially called King County International Airport) because the factory in Renton was at capacity building the 707 and 727. It was moved to Renton in late 1970. A significant portion of the fuselage assembly is in Wichita, Kansas previously by Boeing but now by Spirit AeroSystems, which purchased some of Boeing's assets in Wichita.
The first 737-100 made its maiden flight on 9 April 1967 piloted by Brien Wygle and Lew Wallick[9] and entered service in February 1968 with Lufthansa, the first non-American airline to launch a new Boeing aircraft. The 737-200 made its maiden flight on 8 August 1967. Lufthansa was the only significant customer to purchase the 737
-100 and only 30 aircraft were ever produced. The lengthened 737-200 was widely preferred and was produced until 1988. The launch customer of the 737-200 was United Airlines. The inaugural flight for United was flown on 28 April 1968 from Chicago O'Hare (ORD) to Grand Rapids, Michigan (GRR). After aircraft #135, a series of improvements were incorporated in to the 737-200. This became known as the 737-200 Advanced, which became the production standard.
Boeing 777 series
The Boeing 777 is an American long-range wide-body twin-engine airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The world's largest twinjet and commonly referred to as the Triple Seven, it can carry between 301 and 368 passengers in a three-class configuration and has a range from 5,235 to 9,450 nautical miles (9,695 to 17,500 km). Distinguishing features of the 777 include the six wheels on each main landing gear, its circular fuselage cross section, the pronounced "neck" aft of the cockpit, and the blade-like tail cone.
In the 1970s, Boeing unveiled new models: the twin-engine 757 to replace the venerable 727, the twin-engine 767 to challenge the Airbus A300, and a trijet 777 concept to compete with the DC-10 and the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar.[3] Based on a re-winged 767 design, the 275 seat 777 was to be offered in two variants: a 2,700 nautical miles (5,000 km) transcontinental and an 4,320 nmi (8,000 km) intercontinental.
The twinjets were a big success, due in part to the 1980s ETOPS regulations. However the trijet 777 was cancelled (much like the trijet concept of the Boeing 757) in part because of the complexities of a trijet design and the absence of a 40,000 lbf (178 kN) engine. The cancellation left Boeing with a huge size and range gap in its product line between the 767-300ER and the 747-400. The DC-10 and L-1011, which entered service in early 1970s, were also due for replacement. In the meantime, Airbus developed the A340 to fulfill that requirement and to compete with Boeing.
Boeing 787 series
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a mid-sized, wide-body, twin engine jet airliner currently in production by Boeing Commercial Airplanes and scheduled to enter service in November 2008.It will carry between 210 and 330 passengers depending on variant and seating configuration. Boeing has stated that it will be more fuel-efficient than earlier Boeing airliners. It will also be the first major airliner to use composite materials for most of its construction.
Boeing premiered the first 787 on July 8, 2007, which matches the aircraft's designation in the US-style month-day-year format (7/08/07).However, at the roll-out many of the airplane's parts were attached with non-aerospace fasteners, requiring it to be partly disassembled to replace with flight fasteners afterwards. It is also understood that the aircraft's major systems and cockpit had not been installed, and no date for the initial 'power up' had been set.
The longest range 787 variant can fly 8,000 to 8,500 nautical miles (14,800 to 15,700 km), enough to cover the Los Angeles to Bangkok or New York City to Taipei routes. It will have a cruise speed of Mach 0.85 (561 mph, 903 km/h at typical cruise altitudes).
Airbus A340 series
The A340 was launched in June 1987 as a long-range complement to the short-range A320 and the medium-range A300. At the time, Airbus's twinjets were at a disadvantage against aircraft such as the Boeing 747 because of the ETOPS problem as defined by the then-current regulations: two-engined aircraft had to stay within close range of emergency airfields to allow for engine malfunction.
The A340 was designed in parallel with the twin-engined A330: both aircraft share the same wing and similar fuselage structure, and borrow heavily from the advanced avionics developed for the A320.
n January 2006, Airbus announced plans to develop an enhanced version of the A340, dubbed the A340E, where E stands for enhanced. Airbus claims that the enhanced A340 will be more fuel-efficient than earlier A340s and close the 8-10% disparity and allow the model to compete more effectively with the Boeing 777. However, due to ongoing production problems with the A380 and other internal challenges, it appears (as of October 2007) that the A340 E program is at a standstill. Airbus has predicted that it will probably produce 127 A340 units through 2016, after which production will cease
Airbus A380
The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, four-engine airliner manufactured by the European corporation Airbus, an EADS subsidiary. The largest passenger airliner in the world, the A380 made its maiden flight on 27 April 2005 from Toulouse, France, and made its first commercial flight on 25 October 2007 from Singapore to Sydney with Singapore Airlines. The aircraft was known as the Airbus A3XX during much of its development phase, but the nickname Superjumbo has since become associated with it.
The A380's upper deck extends along the entire length of the fuselage. This allows for a cabin with 50% more floor space than the next largest airliner, the Boeing 747-400, and provides seating for 525 people in standard three-class configuration or up to 853 people in full economy class configuration.The A380 is offered in passenger and freighter versions. The A380-800, the passenger model, is the largest passenger airliner in the world, superseding the Boeing 747, but has a shorter fuselage than the Airbus A340-600 which is Airbus' next biggest passenger airplane. The A380-800F, the freighter model, is offered as one of the largest freight aircraft, with a listed payload capacity exceeded only by the Antonov An-225. The A380-800 has a design range of 15,200 kilometres (8,200 nmi), sufficient to fly from New York to Hong Kong for example, and a cruising speed of Mach 0.85 (about 900 km/h or 560 mph at cruise altitude)
SkyFender © 2006 -2007