Air India accepts 787, Boeing produces first “clean” version

Good news for Boeing on two fronts: Air India and Boeing agreed to a compensation deal, reported to be valued at $1bn, that paves the way to deliver the first 787s to the embattled airline. The first airplane comes from Everett, and Charleston’s first completed 787 is also slated for Air India. Air India has 27 787s on order.

Boeing produced the first 787 that is “clean” of the problems that have plagued the program for years and which caused massive rework that takes an average of 13 months to complete. This is a major milestone for the program.

Meantime, Boeing hopes to firm up some MOUs on the 747-8I soon.

Finally, a bit of history. This story contains an interview with one of the surviving Tuskegee Airmen. Their story has been depicted in the awful George Lucas movie Red Tails and the far better Ted Turner movie Tuskegee Airmen. The latter is available on DVD through Amazon.com.