Review Article Open Access

British Airways is Ordering up to 42 Boeing 777-9s Aeronaves to Modernize the UK Flag Carriers Long-Haul Fleet

Relly Victoria Virgil Petrescu1
  • 1 Bucharest Polytechnic University, Romania

Abstract

The Boeing 777 (sometimes referred to as Triple 7) is a large-capacity subsonic long-haul bomber aircraft built by the American company Boeing. This type of aircraft holds the current record of autonomy for commercial jets (17,450 km without food). Other special features of the aircraft include the perfect circular fuselage, a set of six wheels on each axle of the landing gear and the ability to be equipped with the high-performance General Electric GE90 engine. The 777 has been exclusively designed using CAD technology (with CATIA version 3), being the first airplane designed without building test structures before. Verification of joints and construction techniques has also been done digitally, with all the structures built up being included in the actual aircraft. The aircraft was designed to serve as an immediately superior Boeing 767 model and was built in airline consultancy (United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, ANA, British Airways, JAL, Qantas and Cathay Pacific) came from United Airlines in 1990 and the first flight took place on June 14, 1994, at the Boeing factory in Everett, near Seattle. It was the first ETOPS 180 bimonthly aircraft (it can fly up to 180 min from any airport able to take it). It is one of the best-selling (two-color) passenger airplanes in history, of which 988 were ordered, of which 635 were already delivered to the airlines. Its main competitors are Airbus A330 (for medium distance routes), Airbus A340 (for long-distance routes, with the claim that this model has the disadvantage of having four engines) and the future of the Airbus A350XWB-1000. Boeing plans to replace the model with the Yellowstone 3 code model in 2012-2015. The aircraft is equipped with modern technologies: Digital flight instruments offered by Honeywell LCD panels, fly-by-wire control, manual back-up systems, fully controllable avionics from software, use of composite materials on a larger surface (9% by mass), optical fiber as the primary transmission and control system for avionics, the largest and most powerful engine ever installed in a commercial aircraft (GE90-115B1) and the largest landing gear plus, the landing train allows the highest maximum weight on a wheel of all commercial jets - 23.73 t). The aircraft also uses classic technologies - such as the classic jump, unlike the Airbus models that have switched to joysticks. Similarly, the front section (section 41) is identical to that of the Boeing 767. For the comfort of pilots and crew members over long distances, there is a special resting space above the passenger cabin, complete with beds. In fact, the entire interior of the plane was new and then used in other models.

Journal of Aircraft and Spacecraft Technology
Volume 4 No. 1, 2020, 1-20

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3844/jastsp.2020.1.20

Submitted On: 1 March 2019 Published On: 19 February 2020

How to Cite: Petrescu, R. V. V. (2020). British Airways is Ordering up to 42 Boeing 777-9s Aeronaves to Modernize the UK Flag Carriers Long-Haul Fleet. Journal of Aircraft and Spacecraft Technology, 4(1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.3844/jastsp.2020.1.20

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Keywords

  • Boeing
  • Boeing 777
  • Boeing 777-9s
  • British Airways