Taking Off with Hopes and Dream(liner)s

Finally! After months and months and months and months and months of delays, the employees of Boeing finally could breathe a sigh of relief since their latest offering to the aviation world, the 787 Dreamliner finally took flight. Designed to be a competitor to the Airbus megaplanes that have been garnering attention since their maiden flights over a year ago, Boeing is hopeful that the test flights of their new 787 will be a sign of things to come and a return to the dominence of the air travel industry that they once held nearly universally. As an aviation fanatic I've also been following the news of the Dreamliner with great interest but I sometimes wonder if it's too little too late.

When designs for planes like the Dreamliner and Airbus's double-decker (the A380) first hit the books there was a major boom occuring in the aviation industry. Economy airlines were sprouting all over the place like crab grass in summer and it seemed that everyone was looking to establish an airline. With that type of demand it was no wonder that airline manufacturers were looking to cash in on the trend and offer up newer and better planes. But what seems to have happened in the interim is that the overall industry has suffered just as the economy has. With airlines folding nearly as quickly as they started, demand has gone down and routes that many airlines fly have also been drastically reduced. Where once you had a veritable cornucopia of choices for domestic air travel you are now down to a handful. Even stalwarts of the aviation boom are no longer looking as prominent as they once were.

But now as the economy seems to be on an upswing, maybe it is the time to look into getting more airlines into the air; that too on wings made by Boeing. Boeing has been pushing their new concept very hard and are hopeful that customers will come back in the numbers that they once had. Part of the problem is that Airbus has been a big competitor and they have offered up products that are as good (if not better) than some of Boeing's planes but more importantly, the delays that Airbus has faced have not been as long or as drastic as what Boeing has experienced with the Dreamliner. With product deliveries to All Nippon Airlines expected nearly two and a half years behind schedule, it's no wonder that people are curious but not enthusiastic about signing on to purchase the planes.

Not that there's anything wrong with the Dreamliner or Boeing for that matter but it just seems that perhaps it is still a bit too early for Boeing to succeed and do well on the basis of just the sales of the Dreamliner. Last year was full of nothing but bad news for Boeing planes as their contract for a replacement tanker for the US Air Force was revoked and then delayed plus the delays with the Dreamliner experiencing manufacturing delays meaning that no major money was flowing into the aviation section. Boeing has long enjoyed having a place of prominence in this market but now that things are slowing down for them it's looking like it's going to be harder to keep things afloat.

Boeing provides many jobs in the Seattle area where they have long had their manufacturing facilities. But in an effort to diversify and 'spread the wealth' they have moved their executive offices to Chicago and are opening plants to manufacture the Dreamliner in South Carolina in addition to Seattle. Whether this diversification is timely or too late remains to be seen but one thing is for certain; the success of this test flight and subsequent test flights will prove whether or not the time and effort being spent on the Dreamliner will yield good fortune for the company or not. I'm certainly hopeful but I won't hold my breath.