Boeing 787 too heavy

[Greg McDonald]

An interesting article:

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 said that weight gains by the 787 would limit its range. Boeing subsequently acknowledged that it had cut its range forecast for the first Dreamliners.