Jetrader - July/August 2013 - 11

“First and foremost, financiers look for a plane that
has broad market success. The 777 certainly fits the
bill as it dominates the marketplace in terms of its
efficiency and capability, so financiers already view
it very favorably."
- Brad Till, managing director of airplanes programs 
and valuations for Boeing Capital Corp.
that enables operating within Code E
airport environments on the ground but
gain the advantage of great wingspan
during ﬂight.”
As now envisioned, the 777X would not
enter service until late in the decade. For
customers, and ultimately for Boeing, that
means foreseeing a 2020 airline operating
environment which, based on technology
advances, is likely to be signiﬁcantly different than today.
“We’re beginning to talk about how
to enable the airplane to be ready for
the  explosion in on-board and off-board
data that we see coming. That is, really
being able to deal with massive quantities
of information, both about the airplane
and its navigation, but also its health
management and operations planning,
enabling customer communications capabilities that aren’t widely available today,”
VerWey said.

One Engine Type
Among concrete steps Boeing has taken
toward the 777X’s formal launch is selection of GE as its engine partner. Today,
the engine maker is the sole producer
of engines for the 777-200LR and -300ER
airplanes. “This decision to work with GE
going forward reﬂects the best match to
the development program, schedule and
airplane performance,” said Boeing’s Bob
Feldmann, who was named vice president
and general manager of 777X Development
in March.

Engaging Financiers, Appraisers
Most recently, Boeing called on a small
group of aviation bankers, analysts and
appraisers to join its twin-aisle working
group as design advisors.
The move builds on a groundbreaking
practice it started in the mid-2000s to
involve the people who, in many cases,
will actually own the assets to be in on
their development.
“The 787 was the ﬁrst time the investment community was really brought in from
the start on an all-new airplane program,”
said Brad Till, managing director of airplanes programs and valuations for Boeing
Capital Corp., the manufacturer’s ﬁnancing
and leasing unit. “That effort was very
successful in bringing in design aspects
that beneﬁt the aircraft as an investment,
such as making it less costly and less difﬁcult to transition from one operator to
another over its life by making it easier
to reconﬁgure and upgrade.”
Till said with the 777X’s design not
being “a clean sheet of paper,” the ﬁnancing
community’s role in the derivative’s design
will be different than on the Dreamliner.
“We already have a lot of learning
gathered around the 787, but we want
the ﬁnanciers to be part of the process
because there probably will be a few more
tradeoffs to evaluate,” Till said.
He expanded on what Boeing has
already heard from the ﬁnancial community
about the current large twin’s market position and where the new design should head.

“First and foremost, ﬁnanciers look for
a plane that has broad market success. The
777 certainly ﬁts the bill as it dominates
the marketplace in terms of its efﬁciency
and capability, so ﬁnanciers already view it
very favorably. From there, it gets into the
ease at which the airplane can be moved
from one operator to another, so to the
extent that there are fewer costly options
or customization features, the better from
their perspective. Friction over transition
is really what the ﬁnanciers are looking to
avoid,” Till said.

Next Steps for the 787
Anticipating a formal 777X launch once
sufﬁcient customer commitments have been
obtained, Boeing is looking at the next 18
to 24 months to complete its development
work and trade studies to support a service
entry by the decade’s end.
In the meantime, design and study
work on the other major piece of Boeing’s
future twin-aisle strategy—787 future
development—continues on pace.
“We’ve known for several years that
the 787 family would include a third,
higher-capacity member,” VerWey said,
in talking of the 787-10X. “We’ve heard
clearly and  almost unanimously from
customers that our objective should be
to produce the world’s most efficient
twin-aisle airplane.”
To accomplish that, Boeing needed to
evaluate its current 787 models—the -8
and -9—for their performance.

777X Value Proposition – Boeing’s concept for the so-called 777X is to be a derivative of the manufacturer’s popular twin-aisle product,
as seen here in an artist’s rendering. The Seattle, Wash.-based airplane builder is currently engaging with customers over marketplace
interests in the aircraft which, if launched, would enter service late in the decade. Design studies are focused on improving today’s
777 through using a new all-composite wing, a new engine, and ﬂight deck and cabin advancements to create a larger, twin-aisle with
the lowest fuel burn per seat of any airplane, greater payload and range capability, a new interior, and signiﬁcantly lower operating
costs among its attributes. (Boeing concept)

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