Marks the spot

The 777X will enter into service in the next two to three years: Boeing officially maintains that it plans to launch in 2020, although a December 2019 date has been much-rumoured but never confirmed. During the time between now and then, however, Boeing has much work to do to transition the existing 777 line — which still has dozens of orders to fulfil — into production of the 777X.

Australian Aviation sat down with Jeff Haber, Regional Director of Product Marketing at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, for the very latest on the programme.

The 777 line will add 777X aircraft in a phased switchover

“Right now, our production rate is about seven 777s per month,” Haber explains, highlighting that the current-generation 777 family is still for sale. “We’re building freighters and -300ERs. We’re building -200LRs now. If a customer wanted some, we could build some.”

As of Boeing’s most recent May 2017 statistics, the 84 remaining 777-300ER and 31 remaining 777F unfilled orders should take just over sixteen months to fulfil, but test and early production 777X aircraft will, Haber says, be produced on the same line in Everett, Washington State, in the world’s largest building — also home to other Boeing widebodies including the 747 and 787.

For the 777-300ER, Haber says, “we will build airplanes as long as customers want them. As I’m sure you’re aware, the 777X will go into service in 2020. Freighters? We’re going to definitely keep building them. I don’t know the phase-out between the 777-300ER and the 777X, what the rate looks like. I’m not sure when it will be all 777X, other than freighters. The good thing is, the production line is designed to build either.”

“We’re beginning to use the advanced 777X manufacturing techniques on the 777,” Haber explains. “When the production switches from the 777 to 777X, all these production techniques will be tested. For example, in the way that we’re building the wings, and the way that we’re building the fuselage, we’re using new automation technologies that can be applied to either. I think it’s a really great idea that by the time the 777X comes into production, we’ll know exactly how to build them using those techniques.”

Boeing expects to run production at a low rate on the existing line for approximately two years, in order not to disrupt the remaining 777 deliveries while the 777X ramps up, and with an eye to slow rate growth as a risk reduction strategy. After around three years, Haber notes, a dedicated 777X line will be put into service.

Existing 777s continue their efficiency drive with product improvement plans

Boeing, like most airframers, is building increased efficiency and new options into late-model aircraft, some of which are driven by learning from 777X development and some of which are incremental from suppliers and airlines in service. These sound relatively unsexy — ‘window excrescence drag reduction’ is one of the less inspired monickers — but are generally rolled into engine improvements, aerodynamic and weight improvements, and cabin improvements.

“The product improvements were incorporated into the assembly line at the end of the third quarter of 2016,” Haber says. “All the airplanes being produced now have these product improvements, which, from a fuel efficiency standpoint, is 2%. We’ve also made some improvements to the interior to add some seats, so the overall fuel efficiency improvement per seat will be 5% given this new product improvement plan”

“We smoothed out some of the seams of the windows,” Haber notes, explaining the window excrescence drag reduction, “we’ve made some adjustments to the trailing edge, we’ve put a wedge on the aft end of the wingtip trailing edge, so it all comes out in the engine improvement and aerodynamic improvement.”

Flap fairing optimisation, Flaps 25 autoland capability, slat enhancements, tailskid detection and elevator trim bias are also part of the overall aerodynamic updates from nose to tail as part of the plan.

In terms of the engine improvements, “there are technologies that GE that has used,” Haber says, citing “some of the turbine clearance systems, the active clearance control systems that improve the efficiency of the engine. Engine companies spend a lot of time trying to squeeze every little bit of additional efficiency out of there, so if you can adjust the airflow on the turbine cases to reduce the tip clearances. That can give you a little bit extra fuel efficiency. It’s really interesting how they do that.

Inside the cabin, optional improvements include reduced cabin noise, custom premium window shades, an enhanced door 2 entry, advanced material galleys, straightened aft seat tracks that add 2-4 seats, space-saving lavatories adding up to ten seats, (see Cabin Pressure elsewhere this issue) and full LED cabin lighting.

“All new 777-300ERs after the third quarter of 2016 will have the improvements,” Haber says, noting that “retrofit packages for airplanes in service are available for many of the improvements.”

The lack of a five-year plan for a “Boeing 777ceo” may be a missed opportunity

One of the keys to any airframer offering a generational upgrade like the Boeing 777X is to manage the ramp-down of previous-generation aircraft while ramping up the new planes — and avoiding delays to programmes, travelled work to remedy issues, and post-production fixes.

Notably, Boeing didn’t have a strong and well-rehearsed answer to the question of how long the current-generation 777-300ER aircraft will be available, with even a followup statement getting no more specific than “we would be glad to sell a customer new 777-300ERs for a few years after entry into service of the 777X.”

In the 20/20 of hindsight, Boeing was burned by its decision not to offer more late-model 767 aircraft for airlines without the desire for Dreamliners or the ability to get enough early delivery slots, and by its decision to end 757 production, leaving a gap in the middle of the market.

Given the number of airlines with longhaul expansion or fleet replacement needs before deliveries of the 777X can ramp up — and particularly those for whom the 787-10 is insufficient, but for whom the 777X is too much aircraft — it’s surprising that Boeing hasn’t taken a more aggressive approach on 777-300ER sales, as Airbus has with the High Gross Weight and Regional specifications of the A330ceo, even before the entry into service of the A330neo next year.

While not massive moneyspinners in and of themselves, Delta’s 2013 order for 40 late-model A330-300ceo and A321ceo aircraft delivered between 2015–17, as well as the success Delta and Qantas have both had in deploying fleets of used Boeing 717 aircraft, provide an ongoing counterpoint to the march towards next-generation jets in both product categories, especially in an age of relatively low fuel prices.

The biggest of the big twins is growing — both physically and in route length

Boeing will produce the 777-9 first, becoming the world’s longest passenger aircraft at 76.9m, 60cm longer than the current record holder, the 747-8, and three metres longer than the 777-300ER. The wingspan stretches 71.8m, seven metres more than the 64.8m of the 777-300ER, thanks to the folding wingtip. Boeing expects the -9 to reach 7,600nm in what it calls a typical 400–425-passenger configuration.

Boeing’s (and Airbus’) ‘typical passenger configurations’, of course, are very much atypical. “Customers have their own custom LOPAs,” Haber admits. “We at Boeing use standard rules so we have a common comparison between our airplanes and the competition. These are 2-class. I believe for the 9, for example, in our 414-seat, we have about 35-40 business-class seats and the rest are economy-class. They are 2-class LOPAs.” Three-class versions — with business, premium economy, and economy — are significantly more likely, but at least Boeing is likely erring on the side of density.

Regardless, Boeing is bullish about its big jet in its range and capacity target market. “There’s no competition for the -9,” Haber says. “ The -9 is going to be the ultimate people carrier going into the future.”

The -9 is going to be the ultimate people carrier going into the future.

The shorter 777-8, meanwhile, stretches 69.8m, four metres shorter than the -300ER, but will have the same wingspan as the -9, enabling it to reach a staggering 8,700nm in the notional 350–375-passenger layout, which would enable nonstop services between Sydney and New York, and which range would put it within 500nm of Sydney-London.

Given the extra fuel tanks in Airbus’ A350-900ULR enable a 9,700nm range, it would be entirely unsurprising if Boeing were to offer something similar for airlines like Qantas that value route pairs like these at the 777-8’s capacity. For Haber’s part, comparing the 777-8 with the A350-1000, he sees “capabilities that I think haven’t really been fully espoused to the world. At the design range of the competition, the 777-8 is 5% more fuel efficient per seat. If the airline needs to go another 1500 nautical miles [over the A350-1000’s range] the airplane can do that too. It’s better than the competition at the design ranges of the competition, but if an airline wants more, if they want to go further, the airplane can do that too. It’s really the best of both worlds.”

“The -9 is going to be the ultimate people carrier going into the future.”

“The way we think of it is, there’s really two 777-8s,” Haber says. “There’s the -8 that, at the design range of the competition, is better than the competition. For airlines that want to go further, if they want to go 8,500 or 8,600 nautical miles, they could use the -8 for that as well. The seating between the 777-8 and the A350-1000 is about the same; about 360 seats, depending upon the classes that are put into the air. The -8 rocks. It’s a rockin’ airplane.”

The question for airlines is, of course, whether they want prefer the 777-8’s range and size over the A350-900ULR’s range for some routes and the A350-1000’s size for others. Even further up the size scale, a potential 777-10X is still rumoured to be on the cards, with recent proposals around stretching the -9 to add the equivalent of approximately three to five rows of economy seating, or 30-50 passengers.

Most airlines will have a choice to make between the slightly smaller A350 family or slightly larger 777X family. Boeing and Airbus could well find themselves in a situation that mirrors the “777 or A330” decision that has driven the last twenty years of large twinjet design.

Engines and folding wingtips provide major improvements, but the fold process isn’t yet fully worked out

The 777X gains from a decade-plus of engine efficiency technology, significantly improved aerodynamics, and new, longer carbon-fibre wings, so even though the aircraft is larger than previous generation it is markedly more efficient.

“First of all, the major breakthroughs for the 777X family are the composite wing and the engine,” Haber explains. “By taking the wing and having the wingtips fold, that gives us a more efficient wing. Because of the airport situation, where we want the 777X to fit into all the 777-300ER gates at airports around the world, there are ICAO constraints that if we take eleven feet — about three and a half meters — of each wing and fold it, then the 777X can fit into a Code E gate, a 777-300ER gate. That makes it a completely flexible airplane to go anywhere that the 777-300ER goes. That’s why we wanted the wing to be more efficient, so we made it longer, and we increased the aspect ratio. It’s a beautiful composite wing. In order to make it compatible with airports around the world, we folded eleven feet of each tip.”

Of course, the original plans for the Boeing 777 in the early 1990s also included a folding wingtip, although that version never materialised. The 777X’s version is much less complex, Haber explains. “That fold, unfortunately, outboard of the fold, had hydraulics, flight controls — it had all kinds of mechanisms out there. The 777X is much, much simpler. Outside of the wing fold, the eleven feet on each tip, there’s nothing. There are no electrical wires, there is no hydraulics, there’s nothing.”

“I tell people all the time, one of the many things that Boeing’s really good at,” Haber says wryly, “is we get hinged things to fold and lock, so eleven feet of each wing tip is not a complicated issue to do. There will be, of course, redundant hydraulic systems and redundant locks, full indications in the flight deck, the system is automatic, the flight crews have no additional workload. It’s the ideal solution to make a more efficient wing by expanding the effective span of the wing without sacrificing airport compatibility. It’s a great solution, it’s really simple. I’m really excited about it.”

From the flight deck perspective, Haber explains, “it will be part of the crew procedure for taxi, and as they go through the checklist, there’s a point where they will deploy the wing tips. There are indications in the flight deck, on the display system, that gives indication for the wingtips to be extended. Landing will be a similar combination of systems to make sure that there’s no additional load to the flight crew. Having to fold the wing tips will fulfill all the required Code E and wingtip clearance requirements that ICAO have set out.”

“The 777X is designed to operate at current Code E airports and maintain adequate wingtip separation distances both with the tips extended on the runway and folded elsewhere,” Boeing told Australian Aviation in a followup statement. “Boeing is working with ICAO and the FAA to ensure seamless operations during those periods when the wingtips are in transition (to/from Code E to F).” That period — which is approximately twenty seconds — may prove crucial at busy and space-constrained airports.

A wider, 787-style cabin will bring passengers a generation of benefits

Inside the 777X, Boeing is planning a number of impressive passenger experience upgrades, but learning from the 787 program by not specifying seating or cabins too early. “We leave the specifics of how the customers configure the cabin up to them,” Haber notes. “What we’ve given them is, at shoulder height, a width of 235 inches to create the best experience for their passengers. That’s the key: giving them the canvas upon which to work and create what they feel is going to be the best for their passengers and for their business.”

“First of all,” Haber says, “what we’ve done is leveraged — and are leveraging — what we learned about the passenger experience on the 787, which means we’re making it a greater passenger experience. We’ve increased the size of the windows: they’re now 30% bigger than the competition. The 787 window is 9% bigger than the 777X window — it’s almost the same size, fourteen square inches smaller. We have decreased the maximum cabin altitude to 6,000 feet, much like the 787, and, using what we call a smart EPS system, we’ve managed to increase the humidity, as well. We have higher humidity, lower cabin altitude, and bigger windows, and bigger bins.”

Haber makes no apologies if that “sounds very familiar, because what people love about the 787 passenger experience, we’ve carried over to the 777X. Plus, we’ve managed to increase the fuselage width by four inches by sculpting the sidewalls.”

What people love about the 787 passenger experience, we’ve carried over to the 777X. JEFF HABER

That sidewall sculpting should go some way to ameliorating the tight seating on recent 777 cabins, which were originally designed for spacious 18”-wide nine-abreast configurations, but which airlines now generally outfit with 17”-wide ten-abreast layouts. That 0.4 of an inch per passenger from the sidewall sculpting, potentially together with advances in seating like the Molon Labe staggered seat, or the sidewall-hugging LIFT by EnCore seating that Boeing unveiled at this year’s Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, will go some way towards bridging the economy class seating comfort gap between the 777X and A350.

“What people love about the 787 passenger experience, we’ve carried over to the 777X.”

“We’ve announced the LIFT by EnCore seats for the MAX and for the 787,” Haber says. “At this point, I haven’t heard anything about LIFT by EnCore on 777X.”

But with the trend towards offering at least one set of supplier-furnished seats from key partners direct from the airframer’s factory, it would be very surprising indeed if Boeing didn’t do the same for the 777X.

New onboard architecture means more options for entertainment and connectivity

Boeing is taking a similarly sensible tack with inflight entertainment and passenger connectivity, one of the most swiftly developing parts of commercial aviation.

“We’ve set up a flexible architecture, such that, it’s whatever the airline wants,” Haber says, “for their premium passengers and for the passengers in the economy cabin. If they want no IFE, if they want just wireless, if they want fully embedded IFE, that range of choices, the architecture is set up to be flexible enough so that they can do whatever they want to fulfill their brand.”

Boeing still isn’t talking in depth about the specifics of its architecture, though. “I can’t go into too much detail,” Haber says, “but there are networks setup that can give a variation of levels of connectivity. From no connectivity to wireless onboard, to wireless offboard, to what we call fully embedded IFE. The idea is that you standardise the headend architecture so that whatever systems they can offer to suppliers at any level, we can accommodate that with minimal effort inside the cabin.”

In context, Haber explains, “if you think about it; do you know what your smartphone, what your communication device will be able to do in five years? I think the answer is probably no. I haven’t run into as many smart people like you. We have to have this airplane to be ready, so that whatever some really smart person thinks in five years for communication, wireless, Bluetooth, or 802.11, or any of that stuff, that our airplane, our systems will be flexible enough to handle it. That’s what we’ve done. That’s what we’ve done for the airlines. We created this flexible architecture so that whatever they want to do to make their passengers happy from a communications standpoint, they can.”

Panasonic Avionics, the industry leader in seatback inflight entertainment, is continuing to develop its next-generation IFE product, which it fittingly calls NEXT. Panasonic plans to launch NEXT with the 777X, but is designing it to be applicable to any size of aircraft. Here, too, the company is talking at an early stage in terms of architectures and systems rather than the specifics, but the crucial approach is flexibility and modularity, enabling the aviation industry to shorten the lead time between advances in consumer electronics like iPads and the safety testing, integration and installation cycles for embedded inflight entertainment.

The Internet of Things — in other words, sensors that communicate with each other to drive operational and efficiency benefits automatically — is another technology wave that will likely crest just as the 777X is delivered. “Several options are under consideration and development,” Haber says, but “at this point in the development cycle, we have not finalized or released details. The possibilities are as limitless as the Internet of Things.”

At this turning point, the whole 777X project has that same kind of feel. The airframer is smart to keep its options open as long as possible on the details, whether that’s seating layouts, inflight entertainment, or other facets of the aircraft. If Boeing can deliver on the promise of this third generation of the 777 family, it may well exceed even the success of its older siblings.