ST. LOUIS, June 27, 2010 — The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) 837, which represents about 2,500 employees in the St. Louis area, voted 1,237-838 today to ratify the adjusted best-and-final contract offer that The Boeing Company presented last week. Boeing responded with the following statement:
“We are very pleased that our employees represented by IAM 837 voted today to ratify the contract we have been discussing over the past several weeks. When we began negotiations, our goal was to produce a contract that recognizes both the significant contributions of our employees and the competitive environment in which we must compete to keep jobs here in St. Louis. This contract does both. The vote by our employees allows us to keep delivering on our commitments to our customers.

WASHINGTON, June 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration announced today that they will work together to speed the development and application of environmentally progressive technologies for cleaner and quieter jet aircraft.

As part of the FAA’s Continuous Lower Energy, Emissions and Noise (CLEEN) program, Boeing and the FAA each will contribute up to $25 million during the next five years to conduct flight demonstrations of emergent airframe and engine technologies that have the potential of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and community noise.

“By combining our resources and expertise, we believe we can transition promising technologies from development into service more quickly to help reduce the environmental footprint of airplanes,” said Matt Ganz, vice president and general manager of Boeing Research & Technology, which is leading the program at Boeing. “We recognize the importance of protecting our ecosystem and are looking forward to working with the FAA on a variety of innovative solutions to help define the future.”

The technologies being developed under the CLEEN program will be flight tested aboard two demonstration vehicles, a Next-Generation Boeing 737 in 2012, with a second series of test flights aboard a yet-to-be-determined twin-aisle airplane in 2013.

This flight-test program builds on the success of the company’s Quiet Technology Demonstrators, which successfully highlighted a variety of noise reduction technologies during test flights aboard Boeing 777 aircraft from 2001 to 2005.

According to Boeing CLEEN Program Manager Craig Wilsey, the technologies that will be developed and tested during demonstration flights include adaptive wing trailing edges and ceramic matrix composite acoustic engine nozzles.

Adaptive trailing edges pertain to a collection of small controllable devices that are integrated into the aft portion of the wing. Most traditional wings are designed for best performance while at cruise, and have performance compromises during other flight phases. Adaptive trailing edges can help tailor the wing configuration to reduce fuel burn at takeoff, climb and cruise, and to reduce community noise at takeoff and landing.

New-generation engines on commercial airplanes are more efficient, but require materials that are capable of withstanding higher temperatures than previous engines. Ceramic matrix composites offer the potential of better thermal and structural performance, while helping to reduce weight and acoustic footprint.

In addition to Boeing Research & Technology, the company’s advanced central research, technology and innovation organization, Boeing’s CLEEN team is composed of engineers and support staff from Boeing Commercial Airplanes and Boeing Test & Evaluation.

Boeing continues to take aggressive steps to improve the environmental performance of its products including:

Producing the world’s newest commercial airplanes, the 787 Dreamliner and the 747-8, designed to be significantly more fuel-efficient and have lower emissions than earlier generation jetliners.

Pioneering research into sustainable aviation biofuel made from biomass sources that do not compete with food crops or land or water use. Aviation biofuels have lower carbon emissions over their lifecycle and help lessen aviation’s dependence on fossil fuels.

Developing ways to improve the efficiency of the global air traffic control network, which will enable passengers to arrive at their gates sooner and reduce the carbon footprint of commercial air travel.

EVERETT, Wash., June 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — The Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight test fleet passed 1,000 hours of testing yesterday. The program estimates that it is about 40 percent through the test conditions required to certify the first version of the all-new jetliner.
“More work remains but we are seeing excellent progress in flight test,” said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “Even more important than the hours we’ve logged are the test conditions we have completed. The team is being very efficient in getting the data we need.”

“It’s also important to note that we are making solid progress on the ground testing required on the flight test fleet as well,” Fancher said.

GILZE-RIJEN AIRBASE, Netherlands, June 16, 2010 — Boeing ] and The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) today made aviation history when a Boeing AH-64D Apache became the first rotorcraft in the world to fly using a blend of sustainable bio-kerosene and standard aviation jet fuel.
The 20-minute flight, conducted at Gilze-Rijen Airbase, home of the RNLAF’s combat rotorcraft squadrons, was witnessed by dozens of industry observers and defense journalists.
The sustainable biofuel used in the flight was produced using algae-based biomass and used cooking oil, and processed by UOP, LLC, a Honeywell company, into a Bio-Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene (Bio-SPK), which has been used in previous commercial biofuel flights. In a series of preflight tests, the 50/50 bio-kerosene and traditional jet fuel blend met or exceeded the JP-8 fuel specifications for the Apache. No engine or airframe modifications were made prior to flight.
“This is a tremendous achievement for the Royal Netherlands Air Force, Boeing, Honeywell, and the engine manufacturer GE Aviation in our efforts to develop sustainable aviation fuel solutions,” said Al Winn, vice president of Apache Programs for Boeing, who attended the demonstration. “Both Boeing’s commercial and military customers are pursuing alternatives to fossil fuels, sharing a vision that was demonstrated flawlessly by our Apache customer today.”

“Today is an important milestone for the more intensive usage of sustainable bio-kerosene in aviation,” said Eimert van Middelkoop, Minister of Defense of the Netherlands.
The RNLAF biofuel flight test program encompasses seven flights that will highlight the technical feasibility of flying rotorcraft using renewable fuels that do not reduce the availability of food crops or water. The Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands, which authorized the flight test program, has publicly stated its commitment to minimizing its environmental footprint of military aircraft.

“This program also will help stimulate market development for aviation biofuel within the Netherlands that can help improve the environmental performance of commercial and military aviation,” said Jan Närlinge, president of Boeing Northern Europe.

Boeing is engaged in sustainable biofuel research around the world and supported the Apache flight and the RNLAF through preflight planning, testing and technical consultation based on a strong body of biofuel experience. The company supplied technical support to a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines biofuel flight aboard a Boeing 747 in November 2009, and also to the U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet biofuel flight on Earth Day this year. Boeing also supported four previous biofuel flights using varying fixed-wing commercial aircraft and engine types.
Extensive laboratory testing by fuel processors, feedstock providers and engine manufacturers has further shown that aviation biofuels meet or exceed the high performance and quality standards specified for military and commercial jet fuels.

A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is one of the world’s largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world’s largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $34 billion business with 68,000 employees worldwide.

EVERETT, Wash., June 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Boeing began fuselage assembly of the first 747-8 Intercontinental at the factory in Everett, Wash. Mechanics loaded panels for the 31-foot, 8-inch (9.6 m) long front section of the new airplane into the assembly tool. The panels are part of section 41, the area of the fuselage that houses the flight deck on the upper deck and the forward passenger cabin on the main deck, an area that most airlines typically configure with first class seating.

The 747-8 Intercontinental is the new, high-capacity 747 that offers airlines the lowest operating costs and best economics of any large passenger airplane while providing enhanced environmental performance. Boeing has 109 orders for the 747-8 — 33 for the 747-8 Intercontinental and 76 for the 747-8 Freighter. The first 747-8 Intercontinental is scheduled to deliver in late 2011.