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Boeing 777-300ER

Type (Muster)
Ultra long-range, high-capacity airliner (Großraumverkehrsflugzeug)

Country (Land)
USA

Manufacturer (Hersteller)
Boeing (Commercial Airplane Group)
1901 Oaksdale Avenue Southwest
Renton, WA 98055
USA

Phone: 001-206/655-9800
Fax: 001-206/655-9700

General (Allgemeine Angaben)
Crew (Besatzung): 2
Passengers (Passagiere):
    - 339 in two class layout (56 first and 283 economy at 32 inch pitch)
    - 368 in three-class arrangement (22 first, 70 business and 276 economy at 32 inch pitch)
    - 370 in typical three-class arrangement (12 first, 42 business, 316 economy)
    - 378 in two class layout (28 first and 350 economy)
    - 550 maximum
Cargo capacity (Fracht): Eight 96 x 125 in-pallettes in forward hold. 20 LD3 containers in aft lower hold, plus 170,3 cu m bulk cargo for a total hold volume of 213,9 cu m.

Power plant (Antrieb): Two General Electric GE90-115B turbofans
Thrust (Schub): 2 x 511 kN (115 000 lbs)

Dimensions (Abmessungen)
Length (Länge): 73,86 m
Height (Höhe): 18,56 m
Span (Spannweite): 64,80 m
Fuselage diameter (Rumpfdurchmesser): 6,20 m

Cabin width (Kabinenbreite): 5,86 m

Weights (Massen)
Operating weight empty (Einsatzleermasse): 167830 kg
Max. payload (max. Nutzlast): 69853 kg
Fuel capacity (Kraftstoff): 181264 litres (47890 gal) equivalent to 145541 kg
Max. zero fuel weight (max. Masse ohne Kraftstoff): 237685 kg
Max. taxi weight (max. Rollmasse): 341100 kg
Max. take-off weight (max. Startmasse): 340195 kg
Max. landing weight (max. Landemasse): 251290 kg

Performance (Flugleistungen)
Max. cruise speed (max. Reisegeschwindigkeit): Mach 0.89
Typical cruise speed (typische Reisegeschwindigkeit): Mach 0.84
Take-off distance (Startstrecke): about 3100 m at sea level, standard day, max. weight
Landing runway length (Landestrecke): 1900 m at max. landing weight, sea level
Range (Reichweite): 13,427 km (7250 NM)

Costs (Kosten)
In 2002, the price of the 777-300ER was quoted by Boeing as 203,5 to 231,5 million US-Dollars.
Development cost for the 777-200LR/300ER is put at two-three billion US-Dollars by analysts. General Electric will contribute to this.

Customers (Kunden)
By November 2002, there were known orders from the following companies:

Air France: 10 plus 10 options. Ordered on 13 November 2000.
All Nippon Airways: 6. Ordered on 18 July 2000.
EVA Airways: 4 plus 4 options. Ordered on 27 June 2000.
GE Capital Aviation Services: 10 plus 10 options. Ordered on 26 September 2000.
International Lease Finance: 8. Ordered on 28 November 2000.
Japan Airlines: 8 and two options. JAL was announced as the first customer in late March 2000. It will take the aircraft from 2004, valued at about 1,5 billion US-Dollars.
Pakistan Airlines: 3. Part of an order for eight 777s in different versions.

At the launch, Boeing anticipated 500 to 600 sales of the long-range variants of the 777-200/300, of which 45 per cent would go to Asian operators.
By June 2002, total 777 sales for all models stood at over 600 from more than 30 customers.

Competition (Konkurrenz)
Airbus A340-600

Remarks (Bemerkungen)
The 777-300X, referred to by Boeing temporarily as the "longer range” –300 and now the –300ER (extended range), is a heavier variant of the largest twin-engined airliner ever. According to the company, the new addition to the 777 family is addressing the demand for more point-to-point services. It is said to be the ideal replacement for early 747s, providing comparable capacity but twin-engine economies on routes such as Paris to Los Angeles. Fuel burn per seat is said to be 40 per cent less, or 21 per cent below the A340-600. Regarding seat-mile costs, Boeing claims an advantage of 20 per cent over earlier 747s and around 15 per cent lower than the Airbus rival.
Boeing claims that 35 per cent of the 777-300ER is newly designed or revised. Among the changes from the basic 777-300 are:

high-thrust GE90-115B engines, which are offered exclusively on this version, as well as on the 777-200LR. Also, the engine struts are revised.
more crew rest space for the 14 to 18 hour long flights. Pilots have two business class seats and two rest bunks near the flight deck, accessed through a stairway. Flight attendants will be accomodated by four to 11 sleeping bunks and two business class seats in the back
new main landing gear and strengthened nose gear. New wheels, tires and brakes
raked wingtip extensions (1,98 m/6.5 feet each), to improve the overall aerodynamic efficiency. The raked wingtips help reduce takeoff field length, increase climb performance and reduce fuel burn by two per cent. The strengthened wing can take more fuel.
strengthened body, wing and empennage
adding a supplementary electronic tailskid. This software feature helps prevent inadvertent scraping of the tail on the runway at takeoff or landing by commanding elevator movement if the airplane's nose-up attitude exceeds pre-set limits.
a test version of the Jeppesen Electronic Flight Bag (EFB). The EFB replaces cumbersome paper manuals and other flight documents with software that is easily accessed through computer displays mounted in the flight deck for faster retrieval and more accurate calculations. It also executes instant performance calculations, enhancing efficiency, and includes a taxi-situational awareness tool to enhance safety.

The 777-300ER will be built with parts from many subcontractors from around the world, including:

Alenia Aerospazio: outboard flaps
BAE Systems: fixed leading edges
EADS CASA: ailerons, flaperons, radome
Goodrich: main and nose landing gear
Honeywell: Information Management System
Japanese consortium (Mitsubishi, Kawasaki, Fuji, Shinmaywa and Nippi): fuselage panels, the wing center section assembly, wing-to-body fairings, passenger entry doors and wing inspar ribs.
Korean Air Lines, Aerospace Division: new wingbox extension and raked wing tips, flap track fairing
Vought: spoilers and flaps

History (Geschichte)
In 1997, Boeing went out to the marketplace to propose new variants of the 777. The aim was to offer more range, and the airlines demanded extreme performance here. So the 777-300X (later -300LR and now –300ER) went from 7400 miles to 8300 miles during these discussions, enabling it to serve 747-400 routes.
The high take-off weights resulting from these requirements forced an important thrust inrcrease, which in turn made development of new engine variants more expensive. According to Boeing, it became clear that a single-source engine supplier was needed. After a thorough evaluation, Boeing selected General Electric in July 1999. GE is apparently also contributing to 777 development costs.
After much hesitation, the Boeing board of directors authorized full production go-ahead for the 777-200LR/-300LR programme on 28. February 2000. This was in response to "strong market interest and customer commitment”, it was announced the next day in a joint press conference with General Electric, although no orders were revealed.
About half of the design effort was complete in November 2001. In early June 2002, Boeing engineers had released to manufacturing 90 percent of the design drawings.
On June 20, 2002, workers took the first step in the major assembly process for the 777-300ER by loading the new 777's 97-foot-long wing spar into a giant tool that automatically drills, measures and installs more than 5,000 fasteners into the spar. The spar is an internal support structure that runs the full length of the wings and supports the wing.
Major airplane body sections for the 777-300ER arrived from Japan in early September 2002. These include the airplane's rear fuselage section, often referred to as the No. 46 section, and the cargo door panel and keel panel assemblies. These parts are manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) of Hiroshima, Japan.
Raked wing tips that were installed onto the 777-300ER in late September, and final body join (front fuselage being added) was on 4 October. The forward section of the airplane, which is manufactured by Boeing in Wichita, Kan., were loaded into a tool and then joined with two other large body sections.
The formal roll-out for the 777-300ER was conducted on 14 November at Everett, in front of a crowd of more than 4,000 guests that included employees, suppliers, partners and airline customers. The airplane was unveiled in a dramatic ceremony where gigantic banners with the numbers "777" were dropped from the factory ceiling to reveal the airplane. A striking red, white and blue paint scheme incorporates for the first time elements of the Boeing livery on the underbelly of a new airplane.
The first 777-300ER took off at 10 a.m. Pacific from Paine Field in Everett, Wash on 24 February 2003. After flying a little over three hours, it landed at 1:02 p.m. at Seattle's Boeing Field. Veteran Boeing pilots Frank Santoni and John Cashman were at the controls. Santoni is the chief 777 test pilot and Cashman is director of Flight Crew Operations and chief pilot for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. During the flight Santoni and Cashman tooklew the 777-300ER to an altitude of 15,000 feet (4,572 meters) and an air speed of 0.50 Mach, or about 600 km/h. Santoni and Cashman tested some of the airplane's systems and structures, as on-board equipment recorded and transmitted data to a flight-test team at Boeing Field.
The 1600 hour flight-test program will involve two airplanes. The second is in the final stages of assembly. Those will be subjected to a variety of conditions to prove the safety and reliability of the airplane's systems. Flight times will vary, including one extended-range flight lasting up to 19 hours. More than 1,000 hours of ground tests also are planned. Airframe certification by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is expected during the fourth quarter of 2003. Certification of the interior is expected during the first quarter 2004. International Lease Finance Corp., and its customer Air France, will receive the first 777-300ER in April 2004. That would be about seven months later than envisaged at the time of programme launch.
The new 777-300ER will be among the first 777s to be built using a moving-line process for final assembly.

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Last updated 25 January 2003

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