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Aspire Aviation says the plane's avoirdupois is the subject of a diet that is gradually squeezing excess pounds out of the the later planes in the production process. It may take until plane 90, however, that all the extra poundage is eliminated, Aspire said.
Here's their take:
“The early 787s are actually much heavier than later-coming deliveries,” All Nippon Airways (ANA) senior vice president (SVP) Satoru Fujiki was quoted as saying. “So, for those aircraft we have taken an option to introduce those aircraft for domestic short haul and regional operations.”
According to Aspire Aviation‘s two sources at the US airframer, the first 787 prototype, dubbed ZA001 which carries the registration N787BA, is 9.8 tonnes (21,500 lbs) overweight, a significant figure when considering the aircraft’s specific maximum zero fuel weight (MZFW) of 161,025 kg (355,000 lbs).
Line number 7 to 19 (LN7-LN19), the same sources confirm, are considerably less overweight at 6.1 tonnes (13,500 lbs). Line number 20 (LN20), the first 787 to feature increased maximum take-off weight (MTOW) from 219,539 kg (484,000 lbs) to 227,930 kg (502,500 lbs) to recover some of the payload/range capabilities lost owing to the overweight issue, is around 4 tonnes (8,800 lbs) overweight.
Line number 34 (LN34), dubbed ZA380 and the first 787 earmarked for China Southern Airlines, along with LN50 for Ethiopian Airlines, are block points for further weight reductions.
Line number 90 (LN90) will be the first 787-8 meeting the aircraft’s original weight target with no overweight issue, the sources say.
The net result of the excess weight is that All Nippon is likely to use its first Dreamliners on shorter, regional routes in Asia where excess poundage will have less effect.
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