Raindrops from an earlier passing shower were still glistening on the immaculately polished skin of the freshly painted twin-engine freighter as Boeing unveiled, in grandiose style, its newest and most advanced freighter to customers, suppliers, employees and themedia.

“We are excited to debut the newest member of our 777 and freighter families,” a jubilant Larry Loftis, VP of the 777 programme told the assembled audience of a few hundred people at its Everett, Washington facility on 21 May.

“Today is a tribute to the dedication and hard work of our employees, customers and suppliers put into making this airplane a reality.” An earlier ceremony was held at 4am the same day in order for Boeing employees working the early shift to also celebrate its unveiling.

He added that the new freighters’ range, efficiency and capacity as a twin-engine cargo plane “will build on the Boeing leadership in the cargo market.” With a newbuild freighter market between now and 2026 forecast by Boeing to hit nearly 870 aircraft worth a total of US$197 billion at current valuation, the airframer sees a market for around 200 freighters the size of the 777F.

Boeing forecasts that the large widebody freighter market (75 tonnes and above in capacity) will comprise about 36 per cent of the market by that time. Overall, Boeing expects cargo growth to expand at an average annual rate of 6.1 per cent during the next 20 years (three-fold increase in worldwide air freight) with most of the new freighters going to carriers in North America, Asia and Europe.

Also speaking at the roll out ceremony, Pierre Vellay, senior VP of New Aircraft and Corporate Fleet Planning at Air France, the launch customer for the 777F, described the debut as a “spectacular moment for the future of freighters.”

He also had high praise for what he said was a “high level of participation and input,” which Boeing had solicited from customers as it developed the aircraft with a key priority emerging from customers for Boeing to strike a balance between payload and range.

Vellay said Air France was looking forward to taking delivery of its first 777F in October of this year, following nearly fi ve months of flight testing which began this month. To date, Boeing has secured 78 firm orders from 11 customers for the 777 Freighter, which accounts for more than 20 per cent of the 777 programme’s backlog.

Aside from Air France, the freighter’s other customers include: China Southern Airlines; Deucalion, which will lease to DHL-Lufthansa Cargo joint venture, Aero- Logic; Emirates, FedEx; GECAS; Guggenheim Aviation Partners; Korea Air; LAN Airlines; Oak Hill and Qatar Airways.

Capacity, range and efficiency Featuring a capacity never before seen on a twin-engine freighter, the 777F can accommodate 27 standard pallets on the main deck.

The industry-standard 10-foot (3 metre)- high pallets will be accommodated by the large main deck cargo door ¨C which at 146 inches by 124 inches (371cm x 315cm) is slightly larger than the 747F cargo door and the largest in the commercial air cargo industry. Th is will enable easy interlining with 747 freighter fleets which comprise about half of the world’s freighter capacity, according to 777F deputy programme manager and deputy chief, Kim Pastega. Acknowledging that “a lot of work” went into the cargo door, Pastega said the larger size was based on the largest piece of cargo typically carried ¨C a Trent 900 engine ¨C which will fi t through the standard 747-400F cargo door, but by making it slightly larger for the 777F, the engine can be loaded in only 3-5 minutes. The lower cargo hold has a capacity for 10 pallets, as well as 600 cubic ft for additional bulk cargo. With a maximum take-off weight of 347,450 kg, the 777F will have a payload capability of 103 tonnes.

The 777 Freighter will be capable of flying 4,885 nautical miles (9,045 km) with a full payload and general cargo market densities, making it the world’s longestrange twin-engine freighter and creating the opportunity for carriers to open up new city pairs such as Los Angeles-London, London-Bangkok, Tokyo-San Francisco, Sao Paulo-Paris, or Paris-Hong Kong.

“The airplane’s range capability will translate into signifi cant savings for cargo operators: fewer stops and associated landing fees, less congestion at transfer hubs, lower cargo-handling costs and shorter cargo-delivery times,” Boeing said.

Key to the aircraft’s efficiencies is its significantly lower fuel operating cost, which also has an all-important environmental spin-off effect, consuming some 41 per cent less fuel per tonne than a 747-200F, 20 per cent less than a 747-400F and 19 per cent less than a MD-11F. Th is, according to Pastega, gives the aircraft the lowest trip mile cost of any commercial freighter currently in operation. The 777 is also the first plane to be 100 per cent digitally designed using three-dimensional computer graphics. Throughout the design process, the 777 was pre-assembled on the computer, eliminating the need for costly full-scale mock-ups.

The new freighter is based on the 777-200LR Worldliner passenger plane, “and we took the great technology and aerodynamic efficiencies of the 200LR and packaged it as a freighter,” Pastega said. The aircraft also benefited from 787 Dreamliner design work with the 777F sharing the Dreamliner’s control surfaces and revolutionary new maneuvre load alleviation system. A key benefit of the new freighter is its high degree of commonality with the 777 family which has obvious benefits in terms of training, maintenance and spares for carriers wiThexisting 777 fleets, said Pastega.

“The 777 Freighter will share the family’s advanced features: state-of-the-art flight deck, fl y-by-wire design and an advanced wing design, including raked wing tips.” And like its passenger siblings, the freighter variant will be powered by the 110,100 lb thrust General Electric GE90 engine, which will enable the freighter to meet the all-important QC2 noise standards. But hinting at the kinds of problems inherent in introducing a new aircraft into the production system, Pastega said: “Anytime you develop a new airplane that will deliver unmatched performance, there are challenges to overcome.

“By working together with our customers and suppliers, we found a way to meet those challenges and build the best possible new cargo airplane. The successful application of 777 technology to the cargo market is reflected in the broad customer base for the airplane,” she added.

A new production system
The introduction of the freighter also coincided with Boeing efforts to streamline and condense, or in Boeing’s lingo, further enhance its “lean” production system for the 777 family which it has been refining since the first 777 left the production line in 1995. In part this latest efficiency push was driven by the need to free up a hangar bay for production of the 787 Dreamliner and resulted in a new ¡®U-shaped’ production line for the 777s.

In 2006 the 777 production team’s concept for a U-shaped moving line in one production bay, from the two previously used, kicked into gear when systems installation was put on crawlers.

Gradually the major ¡®monument’ tooling, slants and other legacy infrastructure like huge three-tiered scaffolding used to build the aircraft the old way was removed. By 2007 the 777 was once again nose to door in the final assembly, after trying unsuccessfully twice before to do this. Now even the final body join is on crawlers wiThelizabeth Lund director of 777 manufacturing, who has since been promoted to vice president of Product Development for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, saying that sometime this summer the entire line will be a moving one, except for the wing-body join. Describing it as a “phase-two item,” Lund said: “We’re starting to look at it, we’re thinking about it.”

A double challenge
Clearly the biggest challenge for Boeing was to integrate production of the freighter variant into its 777 family production line, which already had a backlog of over 300 passenger 777 aircraft, while at the same time changing its production system to a moving line.

“The impact is the thousands of parts that have to be introduced into this production system and the charge we are put with is to ensure that as seamlessly as possible this happens with as little disruption as possible and to capitalise on as many opportunities as possible,” said Jason Clark, 777 build integration leader.

Among the changes relative to its 777- 200LR sibling are the obvious freighter specific modifications such as the inclusion of a powered cargo handling system, aluminum cargo floor, onboard weight and balance system, modified environmental control system, and relocated systems to allow for the cargo door.

Structural changes included strengthening the horizontal stabiliser, wing box, leading and trailing edges, aileron and cargo floor support, as well as strengthening the body, installing a rigid cargo barrier and removing body fuel tank provisions.

Other key production issues included the fundamentally heavier structure that had to be introduced into the production line along with the workforce’s’ new product familiarity.

“All of the these changes had to be incorporated down along the line,” said Lund. “One of the challenges, because of the very full skyline for 777 passenger aircraft, we were not able to do what we typically do in a manufacturing line when putting a new model down, is to fi re some blanks down the line. We just couldn’t do it ¨C the skyline was full.”

“Th rough the primary line from the spar-build all the way through to roll-out we fl owed it down just like any other airplane, exact same flow time and then added post-roll-out flow to finish the build at the end,” Lund added.

But clearly that put a huge emphasis on Boeing getting the parts from its suppliers. “To do this we had to depend on our global network of suppliers,” Lund said, which numbered 23 in terms of signifi cant statements of work, while a signifi cant portion remained the same as the 777 passenger aircraft.

Perhaps taking home the very vital lesson learned in the 787 supplier debacle, Lund said that while there was disruption, “our goal was to work really closely with our suppliers.”

“The risk was that we would jig-lock the factory, that we would end up with a missing life-line part or piece of structure where you couldn’t move the actual section from one section to the next and couldn’t continue the build.

“We worked incredibly closely with our suppliers and supply chain engineering in order to prevent that and that part of the process went very well. There was some disruption, there were some traveled jobs, but nothing that was life-line or structural and we just handled that disruption at the end of the line where we had some additional flow ,” she said.

“There is a learning curve, the second one is coming along nicely, it’s still difficult but it’s much easier than the first, but not anywhere near routine yet.”

The second 777 freighter had a 30 per cent improvement in traveled work and an 80 per cent improvement in the parts shortages, according to Clark.

“We’re coming down that curve rapidly and with any new derivative, especially on an accelerated rate it is expected that it will take a few airplanes to recover and we built that in as part of the plan and tried to ease that efficiency as soon as possible,” added Lund.

Although the time to produce one aircraft, along with how many are on the production line at any one time is a closely guarded secret, Boeing intends to built eight freighters this year with the anticipation of six deliveries before year-end.

“Because of the other disruptions in the line we’re still really waiting for it to settle out,” Lund says. “Putting this freighter down the line has sort of skewed the numbers for the time being, as you would expect.

“A new minor model always has dramatically higher hours and learning curve. Th is is no where near what we would consider as a mature programme.” She noted that freighter production also brings stability to production line because of the limited range of customisation, compared with a passenger aircraft. “I can confidently say that over time it will probably be more disruptive bringing in a 777-200ER into the line than a freighter,” Lund added.

And perhaps one day, 777 freighters and passenger planes will be turned around in as short as 6 months from customer order to delivery ¨C the Boeing vision for its commercial airplane division. There is clearly a long way to go as the current average is 12 to 16 months, with only the 737 production line coming in just under 12 months.

Flight testing and certification
Meanwhile, the first roll-out 777F isnow in its flight test phase, with the aircraftbeing taken through its paces by a team ofBoeing and Federal Aviation Administration(FAA) pilots ¨C who have been busy inthe simulators in the weeks leading up thebeginning of the test flight phase earlierthis month ¨C led by Boeing 777 chief testpilot Suzanna Darcy-Hennemann.Two aircraft will be used for the testing,the first roll-out aircraft in Boeinglivery will undertake various flight systemstesting while the second test aircraft dueout of the production line shortly, willbe painted in Air France livery and willundertake all the cargo handling systemtesting, including the main cargo door.

Aircraft one will fl y six days a week with one day off for maintenance while aircraft two will fl y fi ve days a week with one day for maintenance with both flying from Boeing Field. In all there will be between 300-350 test flights and just under double that for ground tests, before certification.

Darcy-Hennemann added that the test flight process was somewhat abridged because the new freighter was a derivative of 777-200LR.