Boeing 787 Too Heavy, Client Says

The first version of the Boeing(BA) 787 needs to slim down, says the chief of International Lease Finance Corp., the airplane's biggest customer.

"Rest assured that the first batch of 787s will be overweight," ILFC chief Steven Udvar-Hazy said Tuesday at a conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., according to Air Transport Intelligence.

"In the long run, this will be an excellent aircraft," Udvar-Hazy said. "But I pity the airlines that get the first ones. Obviously those aircraft will not be the same standard as those 787s later on."

Last year, Udvar-Hazy told The Seattle Post-Intelligencer that weight gains by the 787 would limit its range. Boeing subsequently acknowledged that it had cut its range forecast for the first Dreamliners.

A spokeswoman recently told the Post-Intelligencer that the first six airplanes are overweight, but all six will be used for flight tests. "The first airplane that will provide us with a meaningful weight is airplane No. 7 and we won't weigh that for some time," she said.

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