Is the Dreamliner on a bumpy flight?
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Earlier in the month, Seattle PI, reported that Boeing’s 787 partner, Vought, had fired Ted Perdue, the top executive on the twinjet project, over performance issues.
Vought produces the fuselage in Charleston, South Carolina for the 787 composite structure system, in which giant pre-fab sections are flown by Boeing’s Dreamloader for final assembly in a Seattle suburb. Vought’s first fuselages lacked parts.
Boeing anticipated hiccups in orchestrating the engineering feat, and has been forthcoming when bugs entered the process. So why did a staffer say Perdue was fired after Vought claimed he left to “pursue other interests?”
“Firing a key executive at such a critical time in the programme suggests that the problems in Charleston are more serious than Boeing anticipated, or has publicly acknowledged,” Richard Aboulafia, a Teal Group senior analyst, told reporters.
All this comes during the lead up to the rollout of the first Dreamliner on 8 July, which is destined for ANA. Photographs leaked from the Everett assembly plant yesterday show the first 787 being readied for its paint job, but that won’t make it fly.
“Vought left us with the impression (it) is either behind or at risk of being so,” said Heidi Wood, a Morgan Stanley analyst.
In two weeks, the world will focus on the first Dreamliner, and the launch is likely to be a success. But as 787 boss Mike Bair said last week, “Remember, we are building hundreds of planes.”
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