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Boeing says it's again increasing the production rate for its 777 aircraft due to strong customer demand.

The Chicago company said Monday it will boost output to 8.3 of the 777 planes a month in the first quarter of 2013. In March it announced plans to increase production to seven airplanes per month from five starting in the middle of next year.

United Airlines first placed the 777 into service in 1995. There have been 907 deliveries of the aircraft, which comes in several different versions including a long-range freighter.

Boeing says it has a backlog of more than 250 777s and that suppliers are prepared for its production increases. - SEATTLE

spiceJet Airlines - flying for everyone

India's No.1 Low-Fare Airline seeks Licensed Aircraft Engineers and Aviation Technician.

spiceJet Airlines are looking for Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineers and Aviation Technicians and Engineering Support for their 22  New Boeing 737 aircraft's.

LICENSED AME:
Aircraft Maintenance Engineers on Boeing 737-800/900ER in categories of Airframe, Engines, Electrical, Instruments and Radio.

Applicants should be Indian nationals, licensed on any combination of the Aircraft and System.

MASTER TECHNICIAN:
Applicants should have more than 5 years of experience on a Boeing aircraft and total practical experience of more than 10 years.

ENGINEERING SUPPORT:
Engineering Support for Technical Services, Supply & Logistics, Planning, Quality Assurance, Stores and Maintenance Control Center.

Venue: Essex Farms 4, Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi- 110016
date: October 16 2010 Time: 10.00am - 5.00pm

Applicants who are unable to appear for the interview can send their resumes to hr.engg@spicejet.com along with specific job codes: AME for Licensed AME, MTEC for Master Technician and Engg for Engineering Support.

Dinesh Keskar, the President of Boeing India and Senior Vice President of Boeing International discusses the outlook for the aviation industry in India. He says, India will need about 1,000 airplanes of different types worth about USD 100 billion in the next 20 years.
Here is a verbatim transcript of the exclusive interview with Dinesh Keskar on CNBC-TV18.

Q: I won’t be wrong if I say you are the best salesman of the aviation world?

A: I would say that is probably okay.

Boeing India

Q: The deal you made with Air India of 68 aircraft and USD 11 billion, the single largest deal in 2005?

A: That is still today the largest deal in the history of aviation because it was one single deal worth USD 11 billion. There are other deals done but this was one single deal with one single contract.

Q: You started life as a scientist with NASA and then moved to Boeing as a research associate, so you moved from Lab to the corner office isn’t it something that people normally do?

A: When we started growing up in India, I did my high school and my engineering here and my parents always wanted me to do a PHD in engineering. So, I did that in the US and once I finished that I started working with Boeing, one of the things that I found out that there are lot of engineers and lots of good technologies etc but I wanted to do something unique. At that time I was working on the fly by wire system and which is one this airplane here and it took fifteen years to come there, so by the time you work on something till you see it, it takes a long time. When I was in a program called Expo in Boeing, it introduced me to different other functions in the Boeing company, one of them being sales and marketing.

Q: And then in 1987 they sent you to India because people say that Boeing lost the deal to Airbus and so they wanted you here?

A: Certainly, people like to change things and 1987 was the beginning of new era because there was big deal done at Indian Airlines and Boeing just wanted to change people. So, they wanted me to know whether I want to go and work in India and I said I would take a look at it and 22 years later I am still there.

Q: So you got the first deal with Mr. Scindia a USD 700 million deal and in the last two years you perhaps sold about 150 aircraft into Indian companies?

A: We did about 165 in about three year timeframe worth about USD 25 billion was very good going.

Q: Have you been a little more successful because some people would say that it is overcapacity that is driving Indian Airline Company?

A: Even I say that on every single program because that is indeed the reason. We carefully look at the business plan, where the airplanes are going to be used, so if you look at 68 airplanes of Air India, not one was going to be used in the domestic market, the wide bodies like these are going to New York non stop and one stop.

The 18 Air India Express are going as low fare carriers to the gulf and South East Asia and the 787s are not even here yet. We did some wide bodies with Jet Airways and some are yet to be delivered, they took a modest quantity of 737s and they are doing reasonably okay and also SpiceJet. So, what I wanted to tell you is that we have been fortunate and we have never had a cancellation, we had some deferrals but we carefully measure what is it that the airline can use and need and at the same time nobody at that time predicted the deep recession, fuel price and things associated with it.

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Boeing Co said on Thursday it has opened the flight-test window for its 787 Dreamliner starting Dec. 15, allaying concerns that the hotly anticipated aircraft -- already two years behind schedule -- will miss its latest target of taking to the skies before year end.

787 Dreamliner

A test-flight date marks a huge step in the development of the revolutionary airplane, whose promise of increased fuel efficiency and comfort has attracted a record number of orders for a plane still in development.

"Following the successful completion of static testing to validate the side-of-body modification, we have been working through a number of key preflight tests," Boeing said in a letter late on Thursday. "With high-speed taxi testing scheduled in the coming days, we're on track for first flight soon thereafter."

The company said the date depends on "final internal reviews, taxi test, and receiving the final experimental ticket from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration."

In the last two years, Boeing has announced five embarrassing test-flight delays that resulted in delays to the delivery schedule as well.

The program suffered problems with suppliers, a 2008 labor strike and structural issues. In June, Boeing announced a test flight delay after it discovered a design flaw that required a side-of-body repair.

The flight from Paine Field to Boeing Field -- both in the Seattle area -- will take about three hours. The company has not disclosed who will be on hand to witness the event.

The Dreamliner concept is based on the use of composite materials, which make up 50 percent of the primary structure. The materials are much lighter than aluminum, which makes the skin of traditional commercial airplanes.

787 Dreamliner

The lighter structure allows the plane to consume 20 percent less fuel than comparable aircraft. Fuel efficiency has great appeal to airlines, which have been battered in recent years by the volatile expense.

Additionally, composite materials do not fatigue and therefore require fewer maintenance checks, Boeing says. The company claims that a 787 costs 30 percent less to maintain than competing aircraft.

There are three versions of the plane with varying capacities and ranges in the Dreamliner family: the 787-8, 787-9, and the 787-3. The planes, which have been in development since the first part of the decade, have list prices between $105 million and $205.5 million.