The head of United and Continental airlines said this week that he was told by Boeing that the first of fifty 787 Dreamliner aircraft ordered by his company will be delivered for tarmac service sometime in the second half of 2012. "We ordered that aircraft in December 2004. So I've been a very patient person," said Jeff Smisek, president and CEO of United Continental Holdings, the airlines' parent company, as quoted in an Associated Press (AP) report. Despite the delays, Smisek called the wide-body jetliner "a spectacular and game-changing aircraft."
As noted by the AP, the 787 is the first commercial airliner built using stronger, more lightweight carbon fiber, rather than the typical aluminum skin. As a result, the 787 is quieter and uses about 20 percent less fuel than a comparably sized aluminum aircraft. "That's staggering," Smisek said, with regard to the fuel savings. "If you substitute them for an existing aircraft, your profits will improve like that. It will also permit us to fly routes we couldn't otherwise profitably fly. So it's really a home run."
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