Plane Nation

When Sir Richard Branson and Boeing chairman Jim McNerney put their signatures on the £4billion contract for the 787 Dreamliner, it seems neither realised that they were also committing to lose a stone each “to reduce carbon emissions” on the delivery flight. The final clause of the contract, which was announced by Branson on Virgin’s return to Chicago, stated “the parties hereby agree that each of the signatories will lose at least one stone in weight in order to reduce carbon emissions by over 36 pounds on the delivery flight.”

All the main 787 structures have arrived at Boeing’s Everett pant, and final assembly of the first Dreamliner is about to start.
The final large structure arrived early Wednesday morning on the Dreamlifter (Large Cargo Freighter) from Charleston, S.C. The integrated midbody fuselage consists of section 43, a forward fuselage section made by Kawasaki Heavy Industries; [...]

Airbus said Friday it has once again raised the break-even point for the troubled A380.
In 2005, Airbus was saying that it would need to sell only 270 of the planes to break even. Last year, that jumped to 420 planes as a result of costly wiring problems that delayed delivery of the A380 by up [...]

Airbus has painted the first A380 destined to enter airline service with launch operator Singapore Airlines (SIA) later this year. Aircraft MSN003 emerged from the manufacturer’s Hamburg paint hangar following installation of its passenger cabin in March, and testing of the associated systems last month. Several passenger windows in the forward lower deck have been [...]