Photo courtesy of AP’s Joshua Trujillo
Boeing shares jumped $4 last Thursday when the Chicago based company announced the test flight date which comes after two years of delays. The Dreamliner, Boeing’s newest 787 took flight at 10:28am on December 15th, 2009 from Paine Field near Everett, Washington. It stayed aloft for more than 3 hours landing south of Seattle. The 787 jetliner is new phase of passenger planes with lightweight carbon based composite parts, fuel efficiency and lower emissions and community noise. The plane suffered 5 delays spread out over a two-year period which cost the company billions of dollars. Despite the lower demand for air travel and weak economy, Boeing already has orders for 850 Dreamliners with the first to be delivered to Japan’s All Nippon Airwayslate sometime next year.
The long-awaited success of this flight will boost communities near the plants as jobs are secured and created. Upsurge in jobs from companies like Boeing create opportunities for the community and raises the economy as people can now afford to buy more. This also creates a real estate boom in both property for sale and rent as they cater to new workers in the area. After an eight week strike by Seattle-area Boeing production workers, the company decided to use North Charleston, South Carolina as a second site for their 787 assembly line. While this is great news for the South Carolina economy, as each Boeing job creates enough spending for up to three other jobs, these are jobs that won’t be created near their Everett, Washington plant. Here’s to hoping the second Dreamliner that is slated to fly before the end of the year makes it up and Boeing is able to get successfully through all the testing required by the FAA on time.
Here is more information on the Boeing Dreamliner.
