Boeing 787 Too Heavy, Client Says

Boeing's biggest customer says the Dreamliner will be 'an excellent aircraft' in the long run.

Author:: Ted Reed
Publish date:: Mar 18, 2009 11:02 AM EDT

The first version of the

Boeing

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.