Boeing have officially renamed the 7E7 Dreamliner to it's new model number of 787. It was rumoured that this was because of the amount of Chinese airline orders, the number 8 being lucky for the Chinese. Boeing also noted that the number change was to follow suit of their past line of aircraft. Click on Read more for the full story.
The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] today gave Boeing Commercial Airplanes' newest airplane -- the 7E7 Dreamliner -- an official model designation number of 787. The airplane now will be known as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
"We used 7E7 to highlight the airplane's dramatic efficiency advantages," said Alan Mulally, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "All those advantages and more continue with this official model designation for the airplane ."
Image courtesey of Aircraft-Info.net
Since the naming of the initial 707, all Boeing commercial jets have been named in succession based on the 7-7 formula: 717, 727, 737, 747, 757, 767 and 777 up to the latest Boeing commercial jet transport, the 787.
The model designation comes at the same time the company announced orders from the Peoples' Republic of China for 60 of the airplanes. The airplanes would be delivered to six Chinese carriers -- Air China , China Eastern, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Shanghai Airlines and Xiamen Airlines.
"Incorporating the 8 at the time of the China order is also significant because in many Asian cultures the number 8 represents good luck and prosperity," said Mulally.
Tradition at Boeing has been that airplanes in development are given a letter designation and at time of launch are given a number. The 757 started life as the 7N7, for instance. The 767 was the 7X7 and the 777 was the 767-X.
Additional Information:
The Boeing 7-Series Family is a recognized brand worldwide. Below are some of the "firsts" with each new 7-series Boeing brought to the market:
- 707 -- World's first successful commercial jet, first commercial jet with swept wings and podded engines - set the pattern for all commercial jets built today.
- 727 -- First commercial jet to have completely powered flight controls, the first to use high-lift systems including the triple slotted flap and leading edge slats, and the first to have an auxiliary power unit (APU).
- 737 -- World's best-selling commercial jetliner, with orders for all 737 models totaling more than 5,500.
- 747 -- First jumbo jet, first commercial plane to use high-bypass engines.
- 747-400 -- First with dedicated flight crew rest area, first with SATCOM capability, first two-crew, wide-body commercial jet with four engines.
- 757/767 -- First jets to pioneer the concept of commonality - first planes to share a common cockpit and common type rating so pilots qualified to fly one airplane can also fly the other - introduced the "glass cockpit' to commercial jets, first ETOPS twins.
- 717 -- First commercial airplane to receive a Concurrent and Cooperative Certification from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Europe 's Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA).
- 777 -- First commercial airplane to be completely digitally designed and digitally pre-manufactured, first to receive type certificate from both the FAA and JAA at the same time, first to be ETOPS certified before delivery.
Talk about this article in the discussion 
