New Boeing will have a folding tail and its nose will be made in Russia

A new passenger airplane Boeing 787 Dreamliner whose design still awaits completion has been presentated in Moscow

Boeing is planning to complete designing the Boeing 787 next year and begin the delivery of the airplane to customers in 2008. About 20 American and foreign airlines have already signed agreements with Boeing for the purchase of nearly 200 787s.

Sergei Kravchenko, Boeing's president for Russia and CIS, said that the company decided to put Russia on "a very short" list of the cities for launching presentations of the Boeing 787. The company took into consideration a significant contribution of Russian institutions to the development of the airplane. Boeing's largest overseas engineering center is based in Moscow. It employs about 1,000 Russian engineers. Around 300 Russian engineers were involved in the design of the new airplane's components including nose fuselage section, leading edges, and pylons for mounting engines.

Another team consisting of about 200 Russian engineers is working on a special cargo version of the Boeing 747 which will be part of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner production line. The 747 jumbo jet is the largest commercial airplane in the world. Boeing developers intend to equip the cargo airplane with a removable tail so that it may be slid back while loading entire fuselage sections and wings of the 787 into the cargo compartment.  The giant cargo plane has been dubbed 747 LFC (large freight carrier).

Aircraft designers in the USA, Russia and several other countries are working on technical implementation of the project. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner should be 20% more economical in terms of operational performance than the existing airplanes of the same type. The airplane should also ensure improved safety and provide a more comfortable  cabin environment to the passengers. Boeing regards the new airplane as a substitute to the presently used 767s. That is why a market price of the 787 is in the neighborhood of $120 million a piece. The price equals that of a new 767.