The first 787-10 Dreamliner built for an airline customer has rolled out of Boeing Co.'s assembly campus in North Charleston, the aerospace giant said Tuesday.
Singapore Airlines is scheduled to take possession of the wide-body jet during the first half of 2018. The carrier has a firm order for 30 Dash-10s — the largest and most fuel-efficient member of the Dreamliner family — and has signed a letter of intent to buy an additional 19 of the planes.
The initial 787-10 for commercial use will now be painted with the Singapore Airlines livery before undergoing system checks, fueling and engine runs. Singapore Airlines plans to use the plane on its medium-haul routes.
"Boeing is excited to have finished final assembly of the first 787-10 Dreamliner for Singapore Airlines," Dinesh Kaskar, Boeing's senior vice president for Asia Pacific and India sales, said in a statement. "With its unprecedented efficiency, greater capacity and the Dreamliner's known preferred passenger experience, (it) will be an important part of the airline's future fleet."
A simple stretch of the popular 787-9, the Dash-10 is assembled exclusively in North Charleston because its mid-section is too large to transport to Boeing's other Dreamliner campus in Everett, Wash. The plane can carry up to 330 passengers and travel 6,430 nautical miles. Its construction of lightweight, composite materials makes it more efficient than the older planes it is replacing, the planemaker said.
There currently are 177 orders for the 787-10. United Airlines, which has ordered 14 of the planes, will be the first U.S. airline to get a Dash 10.
There are three 787-10s in Boeing's test flight program, which is being conducted mostly on the West Coast. Combined, those planes have flown nearly 700 hours as Boeing tests their performance and systems. Test flights are expected to wrap up early next year, with Federal Aviation Administration certification to follow.
Since entering service in 2011, the 787 has flown more than 190 million people on more than 560 unique routes worldwide, saving an estimated 18 billion pounds of fuel.
Boeing, which chose North Charleston for its second 787 campus in 2009, is one of the Lowcountry's largest employers, with about 7,000 workers and contractors.
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