MOSCOW, May 17 (RIA Novosti) - The incomplete Boeing B-787 Dreamliner passenger plane design has been unveiled in Moscow while about 300 Russian engineers help design its components, Vremya Novostei reported.
On May 16, Boeing Russia-CIS President Sergei Kravchenko said that the company had decided to include Moscow in an extremely limited list of cities where B-787-s will be unveiled. His decision is motivated by Russia's considerable contribution to the R&D effort.
Boeing runs its largest foreign engineering center in Moscow. The center employs about 1,000 Russian engineers. Nearly 300 of them design B-787 components, like the nose section, leading edges and engine pylons.
Another 200 Russian engineers are working on the B-747 jumbo jet's cargo version. These aircraft will be used in the B-787 production cycle. The Dreamliner is the world's largest civilian aircraft. U.S. and Russian designers, as well as those in some other countries, are now working on its engineering solutions.
The Dreamliner will be 20% more efficient than other similar planes. Developers hope that it will phase out B-767 airliners. Each Dreamliner will cost about $120 million. Boeing plans to complete a prototype B-787 already next year. The first Dreamliners will be delivered in 2008. About 20 U.S. and other airlines have already ordered nearly 200 B-787-s.
Russian airlines are not on the initial-customer list. At least five out of ten leading Russian airlines want to buy B-787 planes some time in the future, Craig A. Saddler, vice-president of business management for the B-787 Dreamliner program and Boeing commercial airplanes, said. Most of them now operate used B-767-s that will have to be replaced.
