title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On June 15, 2009, during the Paris Air Show, Boeing said that the 787 would make its first flight within two weeks. However, on June 23, 2009, the first flight was postponed due to structural reasons. Boeing provided an updated 787 schedule on August 27, 2009, with the first flight planned to occur by the end of 2009 and deliveries to begin at the end of 2010. The company expected to write off US$2.5 billion because it considered the first three Dreamliners built unsellable and suitable only for flight tests. On October 28, 2009, Boeing selected Charleston, SC as the site for a second 787 production line, after soliciting bids from multiple states. On December 12, 2009, the first 787 completed high-speed taxi tests, the last major step before flight.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On December 15, 2009, Boeing conducted the 787-8 maiden flight from Paine Field in Everett, Washington, at 10:27 am PST and landed three hours later at 1:33 p.m. at Seattle's Boeing Field. During the flight the 787 reached a top speed of and maximum altitude of . Originally scheduled for hours, the test flight was shortened to three hours due to unfavorable weather conditions. The six-aircraft ground and flight test program was scheduled to be done in eight and a half months and 6800 hours, which was the fastest certification campaign for a new Boeing commercial design.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The flight test program comprised six aircraft, ZA001 through ZA006, four with Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines and two with GE GEnx-1B64 engines. The second 787, ZA002 in All Nippon Airways livery, flew to Boeing Field on December 22, 2009, to join the flight test program; the third 787, ZA004 made its first flight on February 24, 2010, followed by ZA003 on March 14, 2010. On March 24, 2010, flutter and ground effects testing was completed, clearing the aircraft to fly its entire flight envelope. On March 28, 2010, the 787 completed the ultimate wing load test, which requires that the wings of a fully assembled aircraft be loaded to 150% of the design limit load and held for 3 seconds. The wings were flexed approximately upward during the test. Unlike past aircraft, the wings were not tested to failure. On April 7, data showed the test had been a success.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On April 23, 2010, the newest 787, ZA003, arrived at the McKinley Climatic Laboratory hangar at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, for extreme weather testing in temperatures ranging from , including takeoff preparations at both temperature extremes. ZA005, the fifth 787 and the first with GEnx engines, began ground engine tests in May 2010, and made its first flight on June 16, 2010. In June 2010, gaps were discovered in the horizontal stabilizers of test aircraft due to improperly installed shims; all aircraft were inspected and repaired. That same month, a 787 experienced its first in-flight lightning strike; inspections found no damage. As composites can have as little as 1/1,000th the electrical conductivity of aluminum, conductive material is added to alleviate potential risks and to meet FAA requirements. The FAA also planned requirement changes to help the 787 show compliance. In December 2019, it was reported that Boeing had removed the copper foil that formed part of the protection against lightning strikes to the wings of the aircraft; it then worked with the FAA to override concerns raised.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The 787 made its first appearance at an international air show at the Farnborough Airshow, United Kingdom, on July 18, 2010.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On August 2, 2010, a Trent 1000 engine suffered a blowout at Rolls-Royce's test facility during ground testing. This engine failure caused a reevaluation of the timeline for installing Trent 1000 engines; on August 27, 2010, Boeing stated that the first delivery to launch customer ANA would be delayed until early 2011. That same month, Boeing faced compensation claims from airlines owing to ongoing delivery delays. In September 2010, it was reported that two additional 787s might join the test fleet for a total of eight flight test aircraft. On September 10, 2010, a partial engine surge occurred in a Trent engine on ZA001 at Roswell. On October 4, 2010, the sixth 787, ZA006 joined the test program with its first flight.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On November 9, 2010, the second 787, ZA002 made an emergency landing at Laredo International Airport, Texas, after smoke and flames were detected in the main cabin during a test flight. The electrical fire caused some systems to fail before landing. Following this incident, Boeing suspended flight testing on November 10, 2010; ground testing continued. After investigation, the in-flight fire was primarily attributed to foreign object debris (FOD) that was present in the electrical bay. After electrical system and software changes, the 787 resumed flight testing on December 23, 2010.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On November 5, 2010, it was reported that some 787 deliveries would be delayed to address problems found during flight testing. In January 2011, the first 787 delivery was rescheduled to the third quarter of 2011 due to software and electrical updates following the in-flight fire. By February 24, 2011, the 787 had completed 80% of the test conditions for the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine and 60% of the conditions for the General Electric GEnx-1B engine. In July 2011, ANA performed a week of operations testing using a 787 in Japan. The test aircraft had flown 4,828 hours in 1,707 flights combined by August 15, 2011. During testing, the 787 visited 14 countries in Asia, Europe, North America, and South America to test in extreme climates and conditions and for route testing.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On August 13, 2011, certification testing of the Rolls-Royce powered 787-8 finished. The FAA and European Aviation Safety Agency certified the 787 on August 26, 2011, at a ceremony in Everett, Washington.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: Certification cleared the way for deliveries and in 2011, Boeing prepared to increase 787 production rates from two to ten aircraft per month at assembly lines in Everett and Charleston over two years. Legal difficulties clouded production at Charleston; on April 20, 2011, the National Labor Relations Board alleged that a second production line in South Carolina violated two sections of the National Labor Relations Act. In December 2011, the National Labor Relations Board dropped its lawsuit after the Machinists' union withdrew its complaint as part of a new contract with Boeing. The first 787 assembled in South Carolina was rolled out on April 27, 2012.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The first 787 was officially delivered to All Nippon Airways (ANA) on September 25, 2011, at the Boeing Everett factory. A ceremony to mark the occasion was also held the next day. On September 27, it flew to Tokyo Haneda Airport. The airline took delivery of the second 787 on October 13, 2011.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On October 26, 2011, an ANA 787 flew the first commercial flight from Tokyo's Narita International Airport to Hong Kong International Airport. The Dreamliner entered service some three years later than originally planned. Tickets for the flight were sold in an online auction; the highest bidder had paid $34,000 for a seat. An ANA 787 flew its first long-haul flight to Europe on January 21, 2012, from Haneda to Frankfurt Airport.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The 787 Dreamliner program has reportedly cost Boeing $32 billion. In 2013, the 787 program was expected to be profitable after 1,100 aircraft have been sold.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: At the end of 2013, the cost of producing a 787 exceeded the purchase price. Boeing's accounting method books sales immediately and distributes estimated production costs over ten years for the 1,300 aircraft it expects to deliver during that time. JPMorgan Chase analyst Joseph Nadol estimated the program's cash loss to be $45 million per airplane, decreasing as the program moves forward. The actual cash flow reflects Boeing collecting most of the purchase price upon delivery; Boeing expects deferred costs to total $25 billion before the company begins to break even on production; the comparable number for the Boeing 777, adjusted for inflation, is $3.7 billion.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: Boeing lost $30 million per 787 delivered in the first quarter of 2015, although Boeing planned to break even by the end of the year.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The accumulated losses for the 787 totaled almost $27 billion by May 2015. The cost of producing the fuselage may increase because of a tentative deal reached with Spirit Aerosystems of Wichita, Kansas, wherein severe price cuts demanded by Boeing would be eased, in return for a comprehensive agreement that lowers the cost of fuselages for other jetliners that Spirit helps Boeing manufacture.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: In the second quarter of 2015, Boeing lost $25 million on each 787 delivered but was planning to break even per plane before the year-end. After that Boeing hoped to build 900 Dreamliners over six years at an average profit of more than $35 million each. But with deferred costs peaking in 2016 at $33 billion, Leeham analyst Bjorn Fehrm believes Boeing cannot make an overall profit on the program. Ted Piepenbrock, an academic affiliated with MIT and the University of Oxford, projects losses decreasing through the first 700 airliners and forecasts the cumulative deferred costs to peak beyond $34 billion. The model most favorable to Boeing projects a program loss of $5 billion after delivering 2,000 Dreamliners. Boeing's original development investment, estimated at least at a further $20 billion, is not included in these costs.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: To recoup the deferred costs and earn its goal of a "low single-digit" overall profit margin, Boeing has to make an average profit of more than $50 million on the final 205 airplanes of the accounting block to be delivered from 2020: a profit margin of more than 30% while the mature Boeing 737 and 777 programs have 20% to 25% margins. Boeing is reaching it through a larger proportion of the 20% to 40% higher price −9/10s, costing only 5% to 10% more than the −8 with lower production costs from reliability and producibility investments and the expected experience curve. Former Douglas Aircraft chief economist Adam Pilarski notes that two assembly sites slow the experience curve. Boeing assumed a faster improvement than on previous programs which had not happened. Competition with the Airbus A350 and the launch of the A330neo put strong pressure on the 787 pricing.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On July 21, 2016, Boeing reported charges of $847 million against two flight-test 787s built in 2009. Boeing had planned to refurbish and sell them but instead wrote them off as research and development expense.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: In 2017, Boeing's Jim Albaugh said that the requested return on net assets (RONA) led to outsourcing systems reducing investment, but improving RONA had to be balanced against the risk of loss of control.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: From 2019, Boeing was to build 14 787s per month (168 per year), helping to offset the $28 billion in deferred production costs accumulated through 2015 and would add 100 aircraft to the current accounting block of 1,300 at the end of 2017 third quarter.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The valuation for a new 787-9 is $145 million in 2018, up from $135 million in 2014, but it may have been sold for $110–15 million to prevent A330neo sales while an A330-900 is worth $115 million. In February 2018, Boeing priced six 787-9s for less than $100–115m each to Hawaiian Airlines, close to their production cost of $80–90m, to overcome its A330-800 order.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: By late 2018, deferred production costs were reduced from a peak of $27.6 billion in early 2016 to $23.5 billion as assembly efficiency improved and the 800th production started.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: By 2014, Boeing planned to improve financial return by reorganizing the production line, renegotiating contracts with suppliers and labor unions, and increasing the 787 production rate, stepwise, to 12 airplanes per month by the end of 2016 and 14 airplanes per month by the end of the decade.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: From late 2020, the production rate is to be reduced from 14 to 12 airplanes per month due to the China-United States trade war.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On October 1, 2020, Boeing announced the 787 would be produced only in North Charleston from mid-2021 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on aviation, as the production rate fell to six per month.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: In 2019 reports began to emerge about quality-control issues at the North Charleston plant leading to questions about the jet's safety; and later that same year KLM, which had discovered loose seats, missing and incorrectly installed pins, nuts and bolts not fully tightened and a fuel-line clamp left unsecured on its jet, complained that the standard of manufacture was "way below acceptable standards."


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: Early in 2020 Boeing engineers complained about depressions in the 787's vertical tail fin, affecting hundreds of planes or the vast majority of the fleet. Workers in Charleston and Everett had improperly discarded shims before the final installation of fasteners, which could lead to structural failure under limited loads. In late August 2020, Boeing grounded eight 787s due to such improper fuselage shimming and inner skin surfacing issues—issues which proved to have been discovered in August 2019 at Boeing South Carolina.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: By January 2021, Boeing had halted 787 deliveries to complete the inspection relating to the ongoing quality control issues, then in March the FAA withdrew Boeing's delegated authority to inspect and sign off on four newly produced 787s, saying that it would extend this withdrawal to further aircraft if needed. Boeing briefly resumed deliveries on March 26, 2021, handing over one 787-9 to United Airlines, but deliveries ceased again in May 2021; meaning that almost all deliveries had been paused for nearly a year. The delay generated $1 billion in abnormal costs and caused the company to cut production to around two planes a month.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: In January 2022, it was reported that deliveries were not anticipated to restart until April 2022. In February, the FAA announced that it would withdraw Boeing's delegated authority to issue airworthiness certificates for individual 787 aircraft until Boeing can demonstrate consistent quality, stable delivery processes, and a robust plan for the rework needed on the undelivered aircraft in storage. In late March Boeing began sounding out suppliers about their ability to support the production of up to seven aircraft a month by late 2023. Vistara, which had been expecting delivery of four Dreamliners in 2022, indicated a lack of confidence in Boeing meeting its delivery aims by arranging to lease aircraft instead. Later in April reports began to emerge of a further delay of at least two months, and it was only in late April that Boeing submitted the necessary certification package laying out the inspections and repairs to be undertaken on already constructed planes. The FAA rejected portions of the package as incomplete and returned it to Boeing, indicating a further delay before the resumption of deliveries. In late July the FAA approved Boeing’s revised certification package, leading the company to anticipate resuming deliveries "within days". Deliveries resumed on August 10, 2022, after the FAA granted clearance.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a long-haul, widebody, twin-engine jetliner, designed with lightweight structures that are 80% composite by volume; Boeing lists its materials by weight as 50% composite, 20% aluminum, 15% titanium, 10% steel, and 5% other. Aluminum has been used throughout the leading edges of wings and tailplanes, titanium is predominantly present within the elements of the engines and fasteners, while various individual components are composed of steel.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: External features include a smooth nose contour, raked wingtips, and engine nacelles with noise-reducing serrated edges (chevrons). The longest-range 787 variant can fly up to , or the even longer Qantas QF 9 flight between Perth Airport and London–Heathrow, over . Its cruising airspeed is . The aircraft has a design life of 44,000 flight cycles.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: Among 787 flight systems, a key change from traditional airliners is the electrical architecture. The architecture is bleedless and replaces bleed air with electrically powered compressors and four of six hydraulic power sources with electrically driven pumps while eliminating pneumatics and hydraulics from some subsystems, e.g. engine starters and brakes. Boeing says that this system extracts 35% less power from the engines, allowing increased thrust and improved fuel efficiency. Spoiler electromechanical actuators (SEMAs) control two of the seven spoiler pairs on each wing surface, providing roll control, air and ground speed brake, and droop capabilities similar to those provided by the hydraulic actuators used on the remaining spoiler surfaces. The SEMAs are controlled by electronic motor control units (EMCUs).


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The total available onboard electrical power is 1.45 megawatts, which is five times the power available on conventional pneumatic airliners; the most notable electrically powered systems include engine start, cabin pressurization, horizontal-stabilizer trim, and wheel brakes. Wing ice protection is another new system; it uses electro-thermal heater mats on the wing slats instead of traditional hot bleed air. An active gust alleviation system, similar to the system used on the B-2 bomber, improves ride quality during turbulence.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The 787 has a "fly-by-wire" control system similar in architecture to that of the Boeing 777. The flight deck features multi-function LCDs, which use an industry-standard graphical user interface widget toolkit (Cockpit Display System Interfaces to User Systems / ARINC 661). The 787 flight deck includes two head-up displays (HUDs) as a standard feature. Like other Boeing airliners, the 787 uses a yoke (as opposed to a side-stick). Under consideration is the future integration of forward-looking infrared into the HUD for thermal sensing, allowing pilots to "see" through clouds. Lockheed Martin's Orion spacecraft will use a glass cockpit derived from Honeywell International's 787 flight deck systems.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: Honeywell and Rockwell Collins provide flight control, guidance, and other avionics systems, including standard dual head-up guidance systems, Thales supplies the integrated standby flight display and power management, while Meggitt/Securaplane provides the auxiliary power unit (APU) starting system, electrical power-conversion system, and battery-control system with lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO) batteries by GS Yuasa. One of the two batteries weighs 28.5 kg and is rated 29.6 V, 76 Ah, giving 2.2 kWh. Battery charging is controlled by four independent systems to prevent overcharging, following early lab testing. The battery systems were the focus of a regulatory investigation due to multiple lithium battery fires, which led to the grounding of the 787 fleet starting in January 2013.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: A version of Ethernet (Avionics Full-Duplex Switched Ethernet (AFDX) / ARINC 664) transmits data between the flight deck and aircraft systems. The control, navigation, and communication systems are networked with the passenger cabin's in-flight internet systems. In January 2008, FAA concerns were reported regarding possible passenger access to the 787's computer networks; Boeing has stated that various protective hardware and software solutions are employed, including air gaps to physically separate the networks, and firewalls for software separation. These measures prevent data transfer from the passenger internet system to the maintenance or navigation systems.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The −9/10 hybrid laminar flow control (HLFC) system delays the critical transition from laminar to turbulent flow as far back as possible on the vertical tail by passive suction from leading-edge holes to mid-fin low-pressure doors but was dropped from the tailplane due to lower benefits than the extra complexity and cost.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The 787 is the first commercial aircraft to have an airframe majority made of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP), applied in: the empennage, fuselage, wings, doors, and in most other main components. Each 787 contains approximately of CFRP, made with of pure carbon fiber. CFRP materials have a higher strength-to-weight ratio than conventional aluminum structural materials, which contributes significantly to the 787's weight savings, as well as superior fatigue behavior. Historically, the first CFRP primary structure in Boeing commercial aircraft was put into service in 1984 on the horizontal tail of the Boeing 737 Classic, and in the mid-1990s on both vertical and horizontal tail (empennage) of the Boeing 777. In the early 2000s, while studying the proposed Sonic Cruiser, Boeing built and tested the first CFRP fuselage section for commercial aircraft, a 20-foot (6 meters) long anechoic chamber, which later applied to the Dreamliner. Instead of designing one-piece composite fuselage barrels like the 787, the competing Airbus A350 uses a slightly more conventional approach with CFRP panels on CFRP frames, which is considered less risky in terms of assembly tolerance between fuselage sections.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: Safety can be a concern due to lower impact energy absorption and poorer fire, smoke and toxicity capability of CFRP fuselages in the event of a crash landing, leading to whistleblower complaints at Boeing by Vince Weldon, who was fired in 2006. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) later denied Weldon whistleblower status "largely on the grounds that Boeing's 787 design does not violate any FAA regulations or standards". Boeing further argued that CFRP structures have been used on empennages and other parts of airliners for many years without incident, and special damage detection procedures will be instituted for the 787 to detect any potential hidden damage.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: In 2006, Boeing launched the 787 GoldCare program. This is an optional, comprehensive life-cycle management service, whereby aircraft in the program are routinely monitored and repaired, as needed. Although the first program of its kind from Boeing, post-sale protection programs are not new; such programs are usually offered by third party service centers. Boeing is also designing and testing composite hardware so inspections are mainly visual. This reduces the need for ultrasonic and other non-visual inspection methods, saving time and money.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The 787 is powered by two engines, which use all-electrical bleedless systems taken from the Sonic Cruiser, eliminating the superheated air conduits normally used for aircraft power, de-icing, and other functions. As part of its "Quiet Technology Demonstrator 2" project, Boeing adopted several engine noise-reducing technologies for the 787. These include an air inlet containing sound-absorbing materials and exhaust duct cover with a chevron-toothed pattern on the rim for a quieter mixing of exhaust and outside air. Boeing expects these developments to make the 787 significantly quieter both inside and out. The noise-reducing measures prevent sounds above 85 decibels from leaving airport boundaries.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The two different engine models compatible with the 787 use a standard electrical interface to allow an aircraft to be fitted with either Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 or General Electric GEnx-1B engines. This interchangeability aims to save time and cost when changing engine types; while previous aircraft could exchange engines for those of a different manufacturer, the high cost and time required made it rare. In 2006, Boeing addressed reports of an extended change period by stating that the 787 engine swap was intended to take 24 hours.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: In 2016, Rolls-Royce began flight testing its new Trent 1000 TEN engine. It has a new compressor system based on the compressor in Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engine and a new turbine design for extra thrust, up to . Rolls-Royce plans to offer the TEN on the 787-8, −9 and −10.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: In early 2020, of 1484 orders, 905 selected GE (61.0%), 476 selected RR (32.1%) and 103 were undecided (6.90%).


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The 787-8 is designed to typically seat 234 passengers in a three-class setup, 240 in two-class domestic configuration, and 296 passengers in a high-density economy arrangement. Seat rows can be arranged in four to seven abreast in first or business—e.g., 1–2–1, 2–2–2, or 2–3–2. Eight or nine abreast are options in economy—e.g., 3–2–3, 2–4–2, or 3–3–3. Typical seat room ranges from pitch in first, in business, and in economy.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: Cabin interior width is approximately at armrest level. The Dreamliner's cabin width is more than that of the Airbus A330 and A340, less than the A350, and less than the 777. The 787's economy seats can be up to wide for nine-abreast seating and up to wide for eight-abreast seating arrangements. Most airlines are selecting the nine-abreast (3–3–3) configuration. The 787's nine-abreast seating for economy provides passengers less space, particularly across the hips and shoulders, than any other jet airliner. Some observers recommended passengers avoid flying 787s with nine-abreast seating, although others suggested that the 787 is more comfortable than other airliners.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The 787's cabin windows are larger than any other civil air transport in-service or in development, with dimensions of , and a higher eye level so passengers can maintain a view of the horizon. The composite fuselage permits larger windows without the need for structural reinforcement. Instead of plastic window shades, the windows use electrochromism-based smart glass (supplied by PPG Industries) allowing flight attendants and passengers to adjust five levels of sunlight and visibility to their liking, reducing cabin glare while maintaining a view to the outside world, but the most opaque setting still has some transparency. While the lavatory window also uses smart glass, it was given a traditional sunshade.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The 787's cabin features light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as standard equipment, allowing the aircraft to be entirely "bulbless". LED lights have previously been an option on the Boeing 777 and Airbus aircraft fitted with standard fluorescent lights. The system has three-color LEDs plus a white LED. The 787 interior was designed to better accommodate persons with mobility, sensory, and cognitive disabilities. For example, a convertible lavatory includes a movable center wall that allows two separate lavatories to become one large wheelchair-accessible facility.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The 787's internal cabin pressure is the equivalent of altitude, resulting in a higher pressure than for the altitude of older conventional aircraft. According to Boeing, in a joint study with Oklahoma State University, this significantly improves passenger comfort. Cabin air pressurization is provided by electrically driven compressors, rather than traditional engine-bleed air, thereby eliminating the need to cool heated air before it enters the cabin. The cabin's humidity is programmable based on the number of passengers carried and allows 15% humidity settings instead of the 4% found in previous aircraft. The composite fuselage avoids metal fatigue issues associated with higher cabin pressure and eliminates the risk of corrosion from higher humidity levels. The cabin air-conditioning system improves air quality by removing ozone from outside air and, besides standard HEPA filters, which remove airborne particles, uses a gaseous filtration system to remove odors, irritants, and gaseous contaminants, as well as particulates like viruses, bacteria and allergens.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On December 6, 2011, test aircraft ZA006 (sixth 787), powered by General Electric GEnx engines, flew non-stop from Boeing Field eastward to Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh, setting a new world distance record for aircraft in the 787's weight class, which is between . This flight surpassed the previous record of , set in 2002 by an Airbus A330. The Dreamliner then continued eastbound from Dhaka to return to Boeing Field, setting a world-circling speed record of 42 hours, 27 minutes. In December 2011, Boeing started a six-month promotion 787 world tour, visiting various cities in China, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, United States, and others. In April 2012, an ANA 787 made a delivery flight from Boeing Field to Haneda Airport partially using biofuel from cooking oil.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: ANA surveyed 800 passengers who flew the 787 from Tokyo to Frankfurt: expectations were surpassed for 90% of passengers; features that met or exceeded expectations included air quality and cabin pressure (90% of passengers), cabin ambiance (92% of passengers), higher cabin humidity levels (80% of passengers), headroom (40% of passengers) and the larger windows (90% of passengers). 25% said they would go out of their way to again fly on the 787.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: After its first six months of service, Rolls-Royce powered ANA aircraft were burning around 21% less fuel than the replaced 767-300ER on international flights, slightly better than the 20% originally expected, and 15–20% on domestic routes, while GE-powered Japan Airlines aircraft were potentially slightly better. Other 787 operators have reported similar fuel savings, ranging from 20 to 22% compared with the 767-300ER. An analysis by consultant AirInsight concluded that United Airlines' 787s achieved an operating cost per seat that was 6% lower than the Airbus A330. In November 2017, International Airlines Group chief Willie Walsh said that for its budget carrier Level the lower cost of ownership of its two A330-200 more than offsets the higher fuel burn ($3,500 on a Barcelona-Los Angeles flight). It would introduce three more A330s as there were not enough 787 pilots.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: Early operators discovered that if the APS5000 Auxiliary power unit was shut down with the inlet door closed, heat continued to build up in the tail compartment and cause the rotor shaft to bow. It could take up to two hours for the shaft to straighten again. This was particularly acute on short haul flights as there was insufficient time to allow the unit to cool before a restart was needed. Procedures were modified and the APU was later redesigned to address the issue.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On September 15, 2012, the NTSB requested the grounding of certain 787s due to GE engine failures; GE believed the production problem had been fixed by that time. In December 2012, responding to unhappiness within the airline industry at the continuing issues affecting the aircraft, Boeing CEO James McNerney stated that he regretted the impact on passengers: he went on to say that the 787's issues had been no greater than those experienced with the introduction of other Boeing models such as the 777.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: In March 2014, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries informed Boeing of a new problem that was caused by a change in manufacturing processes. Employees did not fill gaps with shims to connect wing rib aluminum shear ties to the carbon composite wing panels; the tightened fasteners, without shims, cause excessive stress that creates hairline cracks in the wings, which could enlarge and cause further damage. Forty-two aircraft awaiting delivery were affected, and each one required 1–2 weeks to inspect and repair. However, Boeing did not expect this problem to affect the overall delivery schedule, even if some airplanes were delivered late.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: Dispatch reliability is an industry standard measure of the rate of departure from the gate with no more than 15 minutes delay due to technical issues. The 787-8 started out with a ~96% operational reliability, increasing to ~98.5% in April 2015. Daily utilization increased from five hours in 2013 to twelve hours in 2014. Dispatch reliability grew to 99.3% in 2017.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: Airlines have often assigned the 787 to routes previously flown by larger aircraft that could not return a profit. For example, Air Canada offered a Toronto-Pearson to New Delhi route, first utilizing a Lockheed L1011, then a Boeing 747-400, then an Airbus A340-300, but none of these types were efficient enough to generate profit. The airline operated the route profitably with a 787-9, and credits the right number of seats and greater fuel efficiency for this success.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: Up to June 30, 2017, after 565 units were delivered since 2011: 60% -8 (340) and 40% -9 (225), the airports with most 787 departures are Haneda airport with 304 weekly, Narita with 276 and Doha Airport with 265. By the end of 2017, there were 39 airlines operating the 787 on 983 routes with an average length of , including 163 new routes (17%). , the 787's longest route is Qantas' Perth-London Heathrow, a distance of and the second-longest regular scheduled flight behind Qatar Airways' route from Doha to Auckland, flown with a Boeing 777-200LR. In March 2020, Air Tahiti Nui executed a record commercial flight of , from Papeete to Paris-Charles de Gaulle, on a route that would typically refuel at Los Angeles but was able to fly the Boeing 787-9 non-stop because it was "nowhere near full" due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The shortest Dreamliner variant, the 787-8 was the first variant to fly in December 2009, then the longer 787-9 in September 2013, followed by the longest variant, the 787-10, in March 2017. These variants are called "B788", "B789", and "B78X", respectively in the List of ICAO aircraft type designators. The short-range 787-3 was canceled in 2010.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: With a typical capacity of 220 passengers and a range of , the −8 is the base model of the 787 family and was the first to enter service in 2011. The 787-8 is targeted to replace aging Boeing 767-300ER and Airbus A330-200 aircraft, as well as expand into new non-stop markets where larger planes would not be economically viable. , approximately 29% of 787 orders are for the 787-8 with 366 delivered. In 2018, Boeing said it would change the −8 manufacturing to raise its commonality with the −9 above the current 30% to be more like the 95% commonality between the −9 and −10, as it will benefit from learning from those.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: When it was launched, a new 787-8 was to cost only slightly more than the 767-300ER, valued new for $85 million at its 1990s peak, but it ended being 20% more costly. Its closest competitor is the Airbus A330-800.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: Keeping the same wingspan as the 787-8, the 787-9 is a lengthened and strengthened variant with a longer fuselage and a higher maximum take-off weight (MTOW), seating 259 passengers in a typical three-class arrangement over a range. It features active boundary-layer control on the tail surfaces, reducing drag.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: It is targeted to replace Boeing 767-400ERs and Airbus A330-300. It competes with the Airbus A330-900.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: In 2005, the entry into service (EIS) was planned for 2010. The firm configuration was finalized on July 1, 2010. By October 2011, deliveries were scheduled to begin in 2014.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The prototype 787-9 made its maiden flight from Paine Field on September 17, 2013. By November 8, 2013, it had flown 141 hours. A 787-9 was on static display at the 2014 Farnborough Air Show prior to first delivery. On July 8, 2014, Launch customer Air New Zealand took its first 787-9, in a distinctive black livery in a ceremony at Paine Field. Its first commercial flight was from Auckland to Sydney on August 9, 2014.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The 787-9 was to begin commercial service with All Nippon Airways on August 7, 2014. United Airlines was to start the longest nonstop scheduled 787 service between Los Angeles and Melbourne in October 2014. Air China started a 787-9 route between Beijing and Chengdu in May 2016. , 57% of all 787 orders are for the 787-9, with 498 deliveries. A 2014 787-9 leased for $1.05 million per month, and fell to $925,000 per month in 2018.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The 20-ft stretch was achieved by adding a 10-ft (five-frame) extension forward and aft. The 787-8 and 787-9 have 50% commonality: the wing, fuselage and systems of the 787-8 had required radical revision to achieve the payload-range goals of the 787-9. Following a major revamp of the original 787-8 wing, the latest configuration for the 787-9 and −10 is the fourth design evolution.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On March 25, 2018, a Qantas 787-9 completed the first scheduled non-stop flight between Australia and the UK flying seventeen hours from Perth to London Heathrow. On October 20, 2019, a Qantas 787-9 was flight tested from New York to Sydney with a restricted payload. A team of researchers monitored passengers and crew to investigate wellness and performance on long flights. On March 16, 2020, an Air Tahiti Nui 787-9 achieved the longest commercial flight of 8,485 nmi (15,715 km).


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: There is also a special livery known as the "Dreams Take Flight" in pink transitioning to purple with streaks of yellow and red at the bottom; both engines highlight fuschia. In the aircraft's body are various icons, including a recognizable heart-handshake icon representing the Employees Community Fund of Boeing. So far, only one livery exists, as the fleet was intended to be sent for Hong Kong Airlines.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: In December 2005, pushed by the interest of Emirates and Qantas, Boeing was studying the possibility of stretching the 787-9 further to seat 290 to 310 passengers. This variant would be similar to the capacity of the Airbus A350-900 - its main competitor, and the Boeing 777-200ER - which it is meant to replace. Customer discussions were continuing in early 2006. Mike Bair, Boeing's vice president and general manager for the 787 development program at the time, said it was easier to proceed with the 787-10 development after other customers followed Emirates' request.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On May 30, 2013, Singapore Airlines became the launch customer by stating it would order 30 787-10s (provided Boeing launched the program), to be delivered in 2018–2019. On June 18, 2013, Boeing officially launched the 787-10 at the Paris Air Show, with orders or commitments for 102 aircraft from Air Lease Corporation (30), Singapore Airlines (30), United Airlines (20), British Airways (12), and GE Capital Aviation Services (10). As of August 2020 the aircraft has 211 orders out of which 58 have been delivered, 7 of which are stored.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The variant was envisioned as replacing Boeing 777-200, Airbus A330 and Airbus A340 aircraft. The −10 is to compete against the Airbus A350-900. According to Boeing, it offers better economics than the A350 on shorter routes. Steven Udvar-Hazy said, "If it's identically configured, the −10 has a little bit of an edge on the −900", but smaller than Boeing's estimate of 10 percent. The 787-10 is long, seats 336 passengers in a two-class cabin configuration, and has a range of .


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: Boeing completed detailed design for the −10 on December 2, 2015. Major assembly began in March 2016. Designers targeted 90% commonality between the 787-9 and −10 and achieved 95%; the stretch was reached by adding 10 ft forward of the wing and 8 ft aft, and by strengthening the fuselage for bending loads in the center wingbox. Because of the length and additional tail strike protection needed, a semilevered landing gear enables rotation over the aft wheels rather than at the bogie center, like the 777-300ER, and the cabin air conditioning system has 15% more capacity. The first and third −10 test-platforms incorporate Rolls-Royce's new Trent 1000 TEN engines, while the second is powered by the competing General Electric GEnx-1B engine.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: Major fuselage parts were received for final assembly on November 30, 2016. The 787-10's mid-fuselage sections are too large for transport to Everett, Washington and it is built only in Charleston, South Carolina; it is the first Boeing airliner assembled exclusively there. The first −10 was rolled out on February 17, 2017. The variant's first flight took place on March 31, 2017, and lasted 4 hours and 48 minutes.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The first test 787-10 aircraft is engaged in flight envelope expansion work and the second joined the program in early May 2017, while the third with a passenger cabin interior to test the uprated environmental control system and Trent fuel-burn performance was scheduled to join in June. The −10 was scheduled to appear at the 2017 Paris Air Show. The second −10 is being used to prove the GE Aviation engines and the third made its first flight on June 8, 2017, when the flight-test programme was 30% complete. Boeing finished final assembly and painting of the first production 787-10 in October 2017, before its certification. The flight tests are mainly ahead of schedule, with the last stages focused on fuel burn validation and revised flight control software, the phase should be completed in December 2017 and could advance first deliveries earlier than expected in 2018.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: At the start of the November 2017 Dubai Air Show the 787-10 had 171 orders; Emirates committed to 40 787-10s, in two- and three-class cabins for 240 to 330 passengers, to be delivered from 2022 and with conversion rights to the smaller 787-9. These aircraft are adapted for 7–8.5 hour missions, in a 280-seat three–class layout. Emirates' Tim Clark was doubtful it would meet its MTOW for the payload-range required with initial thrust engines, but with the current turbofans and the −9 early margins gave the −10 "stellar economics". By early 2019, Emirates was considering canceling its 787-10 order, due to engine margins being insufficient for the hot Dubai weather, in favor of the Airbus A350 (which would also replace its last Airbus A380 order). The order was no longer mentioned in Emirates' May 2019 annual report, whereas it was listed as "authorised and not contracted" in the previous report. At the 2019 Dubai Air Show, Emirates placed an order for 30 787-9 aircraft rather than the 787-10.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: In January 2018, the −10 was certified by the FAA after testing for 900 flight hours. Boeing received its production certificate on February 15. It was first delivered to launch customer Singapore Airlines on March 25, 2018. Fitted with 337 seats, 36 in business and 301 in economy, the −10 began commercial service on April 3, 2018.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The 8.7% fuselage stretch from the −9 to the −10 likely increased empty weight at a lower rate than the 7.4% growth from the −8 to the −9 due to the 10.7% stretch. Software changes increased the tailplane effectiveness to avoid modifying it. With the same wing but a longer fuselage than the −9, the flutter margin was reduced for the −10 but to avoid stiffening the wing or adding wingtip counterweights for commonality, software oscillates the elevators in the flaps up vertical mode suppression system (F0VMS), similar to the vertical gust load alleviation system.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: To replace Air New Zealand's 777-200 fleet, Boeing wants to increase the 787-10 MTOW by over to with some reinforcements and updated fuel systems.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: This would allow more range, such as the trip from Auckland to Los Angeles with no passenger restrictions and some cargo.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The 787-8 and −9 are offered as Boeing Business Jets, the first offering 2,415 sq ft (224.4 m) of floor space and a range of 9,945 nmi (18,418 km), the other 2,775 sq ft (257,8 m) and 9,485 nmi (17,566 km), both with 25 passengers.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: Two 787 aircraft have been used in Boeing's ecoDemonstrator program which aims to develop technology and techniques to reduce the environmental effects of aviation. The testing involves many partner organisations including engine and systems manufacturers, NASA, academic, research, and regulatory institutions. The program started in 2011 with a different airframe being used each year.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: In 2014 the fourth prototype 787-8 was used for tests including use of sustainable aviation fuel, ceramic matrix composite engine exhaust nozzles, and systems for improved air traffic control (ATC) communications and closer landing approach spacing. In 2020 a new 787-10 took part in the program, including intensive noise reduction trials, and including text-based ATC communications and cabin hygiene and cleansing tests related to the COVID-19 pandemic. After removal of the test equipment, the aircraft was delivered to Etihad Airways.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: Although with no set date, Boeing expects to build a 787 freighter version, possibly in the 2018–2023 timeframe. The freighter version would incorporate a large main deck cargo door, at the rear end of the fuselage and would carry palletized/containerized freight.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The 787-3 would have carried 290–330 passengers in two-class over range, limited by a MTOW. In April 2008, to keep the −8 on track for delivery, the −9 stretch was postponed from 2010 to at least 2012 and prioritized before the 787-3 and its 43 orders to follow without a firm delivery date.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: It kept the −8 length but its 51.7 m wingspan would have fit in ICAO Aerodrome Reference Code D. It was designed to operate on Boeing 757-300/Boeing 767-200 sized regional routes from airports with restricted gate spacing. The wingspan was decreased by using blended winglets instead of raked wingtips.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: By January 2010, all orders, from Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, had been converted to the 787-8. As it was designed specifically for the Japanese market, Boeing would likely scrap it after they switched orders. The −8's longer wingspan makes it more efficient on stages longer than 200 nmi (370 km). In December 2010, Boeing withdrew the short-haul model as it struggled to produce the 787-8 after program delays of three years.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: There are 1,006 Boeing 787 aircraft in airline service , comprising 377 787-8s, 568 787-9s and 61 787-10s, with outstanding orders for further 481 aircraft. , the largest operators are All Nippon Airways (77), United Airlines (63), Japan Airlines (47), and American Airlines (46).


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: In September 2011, the 787 was first officially delivered to launch customer All Nippon Airways. , the top five identified 787 customers are American Airlines with 89 orders (37 -8s and 52 -9s) All Nippon Airways with 83 orders (36 -8s, 44 -9s and three −10s), ILFC (an aircraft leasing company) with 74 orders (23 -8s and 51 -9s), and United Airlines and Etihad Airways both with 71 orders (12 -8s, 38 -9s and 21 -10s) (41 -9s, 30 -10s) respectively


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On December 13, 2018, the 787th Boeing 787 was delivered to AerCap. By then the 787 had flown 300 million passengers on 1.5 million flights and opened 210 new nonstop routes. The 1000th Dreamliner, a 787-10 for Singapore Airlines, made its maiden flight on April 3, 2020.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The Boeing 787 has been involved in seven accidents and incidents , with no fatalities and zero hull losses.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: A Japan Airlines (JAL) 787 experienced a fuel leak on January 8, 2013, and its flight from Boston was canceled. On January 9, United Airlines reported a problem in one of its six 787s with the wiring near the main batteries. Soon, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board opened a safety probe. Fuel leaks also occurred on January 11, 2013 and on January 13, 2013, at Narita International Airport outside Tokyo. The aircraft reportedly was the same one that had a fuel leak on January 8. Japan's transport ministry also launched an investigation.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On January 11, 2013, the FAA completed a comprehensive review of the 787's critical systems including the design, manufacture, and assembly. The Department of Transportation secretary Ray LaHood stated the administration was "looking for the root causes" behind the recent issues. The head of the FAA, Michael Huerta, said that so far nothing found "suggests [the 787] is not safe."


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On July 12, 2013, a fire started on an empty Ethiopian Airlines 787 parked at Heathrow Airport before it was extinguished by the airport fire and rescue service. No injuries were reported. The fire caused extensive heat damage to the aircraft. The FAA and NTSB sent representatives to assist in the investigation. The initial investigation found no direct link with the aircraft's main batteries. Further investigations indicated that the fire was due to lithium-manganese dioxide batteries powering an emergency locator transmitter (ELT). The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) issued a special bulletin on July 18, 2013, requesting the US FAA ensure that the locator is removed or disconnected in Boeing 787s and to review the safety of lithium battery-powered ELT systems in other aircraft types. On August 19, 2015, the Associated Press reported that the fire was started by a short circuit caused by crossed wires located under the battery. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch's investigators recommended that "the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, together with similar bodies in Europe and Canada, should conduct a review of equipment powered by lithium metal batteries to ensure they have 'an acceptable level of circuit protection.'"


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On July 26, 2013, ANA said it had found wiring damage on two 787 locator beacons. United Airlines also reported that it had found a pinched wire in one 787 locator beacon. On August 14, 2013, the media reported a fire extinguisher fault affecting three ANA airplanes, which caused the fire extinguishers to discharge into the opposite engine from the one requested. The fault was caused by a supplier assembly error.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On September 28, 2013, Norwegian Long Haul decided to take one of its two 787s in its fleet at the time out of service after the two aircraft broke down on more than six occasions in September. The company planned to lease an Airbus A340 for its long-haul operations while the 787 is returned to Boeing for repair.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On November 22, 2013, Boeing issued an advisory to airlines using General Electric GEnx engines on 787 and 747-8 aircraft to avoid flying near high-level thunderstorms due to an increased risk of icing on the engines. The problem was caused by a buildup of ice crystals just behind the main fan causing a brief loss of thrust on six occasions.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On January 21, 2014, a Norwegian Air Shuttle 787 experienced a fuel leak which caused a 19-hour delay to a flight from Bangkok to Oslo. The leak became known to pilots only after it was pointed out by concerned passengers. It was found later that a faulty valve was responsible. This fuel leak is one of numerous problems experienced by Norwegian Air Shuttle's 787 fleet. Mike Fleming, Boeing's vice president for 787 support and services, subsequently met with executives of Norwegian Air Shuttle and expressed Boeing's commitment to improving the 787's dispatch reliability, "we're not satisfied with where the airplane is today, flying at a fleet average of 98 percent...The 777 today flies at 99.4 percent...and that's the benchmark that the 787 needs to attain."


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: In March 2016 the FAA accelerated the release of an airworthiness directive in response to reports indicating that in certain weather conditions "erroneous low airspeed may be displayed..." There was concern "abrupt pilot control inputs in this condition could exceed the structural capability of the airplane." Pilots were told not to apply "large, abrupt control column inputs" in the event of an "unrealistic" drop in displayed airspeed.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On April 22, 2016, the FAA issued an airworthiness directive following a January 29 incident in which a General Electric GEnx-1B PIP2 engine suffered damage and non-restartable power loss while flying at an altitude of 20,000 feet. The damage is thought to have been caused by a fan imbalance resulting from fan ice shedding.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On June 18, 2021, a British Airways 787-8, registration G-ZBJB, spontaneously suffered a nose gear collapse at London Heathrow Airport while stationary at Stand 583. Photographs circulated after the incident showed the aircraft resting on its nose, with some damage to its nose gear door. No passengers were on board, and the flight was in the process of being loaded with cargo for a cargo-only flight from Heathrow to Frankfurt Airport at the time of the incident. The incident is currently being investigated by the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On January 16, 2013, All Nippon Airways Flight NH-692, en route from Yamaguchi Ube Airport to Tokyo Haneda, had a battery problem warning followed by a burning smell while climbing from Ube about west of Takamatsu, Japan. The aircraft diverted to Takamatsu and was evacuated via the slides; three passengers received minor injuries during the evacuation. Inspection revealed a battery fire. A similar incident in a parked Japan Airlines 787 at Boston's Logan International Airport within the same week led the Federal Aviation Administration to ground all 787s. On January 16, 2013, both major Japanese airlines ANA and JAL voluntarily grounded their fleets of 787s after multiple incidents involving different 787s, including emergency landings. At the time, these two carriers operated 24 of the 50 787s delivered. The grounding reportedly cost ANA some 9 billion yen (US$93 million) in lost sales.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On January 16, 2013, the FAA issued an emergency airworthiness directive ordering all American-based airlines to ground their Boeing 787s until yet-to-be-determined modifications were made to the electrical system to reduce the risk of the battery overheating or catching fire. This was the first time that the FAA had grounded an airliner type since 1979. Industry experts disagreed on consequences of the grounding: Airbus was confident that Boeing would resolve the issue and that no airlines will switch plane type, while other experts saw the problem as "costly" and "could take upwards of a year".


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The FAA also conducted an extensive review of the 787's critical systems. The focus of the review was on the safety of the lithium-ion batteries made of lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO). The 787 battery contract was signed in 2005, when this was the only type of lithium aerospace battery available, but since then newer and safer types (such as LiFePO), which provide less reaction energy with virtually no cobalt content to avoid cobalt's thermal runaway characteristic, have become available. FAA approved a 787 battery in 2007 with nine "special conditions". A battery approved by FAA (through Mobile Power Solutions) was made by Rose Electronics using Kokam cells; the batteries installed in the 787 are made by Yuasa.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On January 20, the NTSB declared that overvoltage was not the cause of the Boston incident, as voltage did not exceed the battery limit of 32 V, and the charging unit passed tests. The battery had signs of short circuiting and thermal runaway. Despite this, by January 24, the NTSB had not yet pinpointed the cause of the Boston fire; the FAA would not allow U.S.-based 787s to fly again until the problem was found and corrected. In a press briefing that day, NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman said that the NTSB had found evidence of failure of multiple safety systems designed to prevent these battery problems, and stated that fire must never happen on an airplane.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB) has said on January 23 that the battery in ANA jets in Japan reached a maximum voltage of 31 V (below the 32 V limit like the Boston JAL 787), but had a sudden unexplained voltage drop to near zero. All cells had signs of thermal damage prior to runaway. ANA and JAL had replaced several 787 batteries before the mishaps. , JTSB approved the Yuasa factory quality control while the NTSB examined the Boston battery for defects. The failure rate, with two major battery thermal runaway events in 100,000 flight hours, was much higher than the rate of one in 10 million flight hours predicted by Boeing.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The only American airline that operated the Dreamliner at the time was United Airlines, which had six. Chile's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) grounded LAN Airlines' three 787s. The Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) directed Air India to ground its six Dreamliners. The Japanese Transport Ministry made the ANA and JAL groundings official and indefinite following the FAA announcement. The European Aviation Safety Agency also followed the FAA's advice and grounded the only two European 787s operated by LOT Polish Airlines. Qatar Airways grounded their five Dreamliners. Ethiopian Airlines was the final operator to temporarily ground its four Dreamliners. By January 17, 2013, all 50 of the aircraft delivered to date had been grounded. On January 18, Boeing halted 787 deliveries until the battery problem was resolved.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On February 7, 2013, the FAA gave approval for Boeing to conduct 787 test flights to gather additional data. In February 2013, FAA oversight of the 787's 2007 safety approval and certification was under scrutiny. On March 7, 2013, the NTSB released an interim factual report about the Boston battery fire on January 7, 2013. The investigation stated that "heavy smoke and fire coming from the front of the APU battery case." Firefighters "tried fire extinguishing, but smoke and flame (flame size about 3 inches) did not stop".


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: Boeing completed its final tests on a revised battery design on April 5, 2013. The FAA approved Boeing's revised battery design with three additional, overlapping protection methods on April 19, 2013. The FAA published a directive on April 25 to provide instructions for retrofitting battery hardware before the 787s could return to flight. The repairs were expected to be completed in weeks. Following the FAA approval in the U.S. effective April 26, Japan approved resumption of Boeing 787 flights in the country on April 26, 2013. On April 27, 2013, Ethiopian Airlines took a 787 on the model's first commercial flight after battery system modifications.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: On January 14, 2014, a battery in a JAL 787 emitted smoke from the battery's protection exhaust while the aircraft was undergoing pre-flight maintenance at Tokyo Narita Airport. The battery partially melted in the incident; one of its eight lithium-ion cells had its relief port vent and fluid sprayed inside the battery's container. It was later reported that the battery may have reached a temperature as high as , and that Boeing did not understand the root cause of the failure.


title: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

text: The NTSB has criticized FAA, Boeing, and battery manufacturers for the faults in a 2014 report. It also criticized the GE-made flight data and cockpit voice recorder in the same report. The enclosure Boeing added is heavier, negating the lighter battery potential.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: Jeremy John Irons (; born 19 September 1948) is an English actor and activist. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969 and has appeared in many West End theatre productions, including the Shakespeare plays "The Winter's Tale", "Macbeth", "Much Ado About Nothing", "The Taming of the Shrew", and "Richard II". In 1984, he made his Broadway debut in Tom Stoppard's "The Real Thing", receiving the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: Irons's break-out role came in the ITV series "Brideshead Revisited" (1981) which is frequently ranked among the greatest British television dramas as well as greatest literary adaptations. It would earn him a Golden Globe Award nomination. His first major film role came in the romantic drama "The French Lieutenant's Woman" (1981), for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor. After starring in dramas, such as "Moonlighting" (1982), "Betrayal" (1983), and "The Mission" (1986), he was praised for portraying twin gynaecologists in David Cronenberg's psychological thriller "Dead Ringers" (1988). Irons has won multiple awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his portrayal of the accused attempted murderer Claus von Bülow in "Reversal of Fortune" (1990).


title: Jeremy Irons

text: Irons had roles in Steven Soderbergh's mystery thriller "Kafka" (1991), the period drama "The House of the Spirits" (1993), the romantic drama "M. Butterfly" (1993), voiced Scar in Disney's "The Lion King" (1994), played Simon Gruber in the action film "Die Hard with a Vengeance" (1995), Humbert Humbert in "Lolita" (1997) and Aramis in "The Man in the Iron Mask" (1998). He starred in the action adventure "Dungeons & Dragons" (2000), played Antonio in "The Merchant of Venice" (2004), appeared in "Being Julia" (2004), the historical drama "Kingdom of Heaven" (2005), the fantasy-adventure "Eragon" (2006), the Western "Appaloosa" (2008), and the indie drama "Margin Call" (2011). He appeared in "Assassin's Creed" (2016) before portraying Alfred Pennyworth in "" (2016), "Justice League" (2017), and "Zack Snyder's Justice League" (2021).


title: Jeremy Irons

text: On television, Irons appeared in the historical miniseries "Elizabeth I", receiving a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor. From 2011 to 2013, he starred as Pope Alexander VI in the Showtime historical series "The Borgias". In 2019, he appeared as Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias in HBO's "Watchmen". He is one of the few actors who have achieved the "Triple Crown of Acting" in the US, winning an Oscar for film, an Emmy for television and a Tony Award for theatre. In October 2011, he was nominated the Goodwill Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: Irons was born on 19 September 1948 in Cowes on the Isle of Wight, to Paul Dugan Irons, an accountant, and Barbara Anne Brereton Brymer ("née" Sharpe). Irons has a brother, Christopher (born 1943), and a sister, Felicity Anne (born 1944). He was educated at the independent Sherborne School in Dorset from 1962 to 1966. He was the drummer and harmonica player in a four-man school band called the Four Pillars of Wisdom.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: Irons trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and later became president of its fundraising appeal. He performed a number of plays, and busked on the streets of Bristol, before appearing on the London stage as John the Baptist and Judas opposite David Essex in "Godspell", which opened at the Roundhouse on 17 November 1971 before transferring to Wyndham's Theatre playing a total of 1,128 performances.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: Irons's television career began on British television in the early 1970s, including appearances on the children's series "Play Away" and as Franz Liszt in the BBC series "Notorious Woman" (1974). More significantly, he starred in the 13-part adaptation of H. E. Bates's novel "Love for Lydia" (1977) for London Weekend Television, and attracted attention for his key role as the pipe-smoking German student, a romantic pairing with Judi Dench, in Harold Pinter's screenplay adaptation of Aidan Higgins's novel "Langrishe, Go Down" (1978) for BBC Television.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: The role which significantly raised his profile was Charles Ryder in the television adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited" (1981). First broadcast on ITV, the show ranks among the most successful British television dramas, with Irons receiving a Golden Globe nomination for his performance. "Brideshead" reunited him with Anthony Andrews, with whom he had appeared in "The Pallisers" seven years earlier. Around the same time he starred in the film "The French Lieutenant's Woman" (also 1981) opposite Meryl Streep.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: After these major successes, he played the leading role of an exiled Polish building contractor, working in the Twickenham area of southwest London, in Jerzy Skolimowski's independent film "Moonlighting" (1982). On 23 March 1991, he hosted "Saturday Night Live" on NBC in the US, and appeared as Sherlock Holmes in the Sherlock Holmes' Surprise Party sketch. In 2004 Irons played Severus Snape in the BBC's Comic Relief's "Harry Potter" parody, "Harry Potter and the Secret Chamberpot of Azerbaijan".


title: Jeremy Irons

text: In 2005, Irons won both an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his supporting role in the TV mini-series, "Elizabeth I", in which he starred opposite Helen Mirren (Queen Elizabeth I). A year later, he was one of the participants in the third series of the BBC documentary series "Who Do You Think You Are?" In 2008, he played Lord Vetinari in "Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic", an adaptation for Sky One.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: On 6 November 2008, "TV Guide" reported Irons would star as photographer Alfred Stieglitz with Joan Allen as painter Georgia O'Keeffe, in a Lifetime Television biopic, "Georgia O'Keeffe" (2009). Irons also appeared in the documentary for Irish television channel TG4, "Faoi Lán Cheoil", in which he is seen taking fiddle lessons from Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: On 12 January 2011, Irons was a guest-star in an episode of "" called "Mask". He played Dr. Cap Jackson, a sex therapist. He reprised the role on an episode titled "Totem" that ran on 30 March 2011. Irons stars in the 2011 US premium cable network Showtime's series "The Borgias", a highly fictionalised account of the Renaissance dynasty of that name. On 8 November 2018, it was announced that Irons had been cast as Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias in HBO's "Watchmen" series.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: Irons made his film debut in "Nijinsky" in 1980. In addition to "Moonlighting" and "The French Lieutenant's Woman", he appeared in the Cannes Palme d'Or winner "The Mission" in 1986 and in the dual role of twin gynaecologists in David Cronenberg's "Dead Ringers" in 1988. Irons would later win Best Actor for "Dead Ringers" from the New York Film Critics Circle that year. Other films include "Danny the Champion of the World" (1989), "Reversal of Fortune" (1990), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, "Kafka" (1991), "Damage" (1993), "M. Butterfly" (1993) working again with David Cronenberg, "The House of the Spirits" (1993) appearing again with Glenn Close and Meryl Streep. What's more, he lent his deep baritone voice as Scar in "The Lion King" (1994). Afterwards, he portrayed as Simon Gruber in "Die Hard with a Vengeance" (1995), co-starring Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, Bernardo Bertolucci's "Stealing Beauty" (1996), the 1997 remake of "Lolita", and as the musketeer Aramis opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the 1998 film version of "The Man in the Iron Mask".


title: Jeremy Irons

text: Other roles include the wicked wizard Profion in the film "Dungeons and Dragons" (2000) and Rupert Gould in "Longitude" (2000). He played the Über-Morlock in the film "The Time Machine" (2002). In 2004, Irons played the title character in "The Merchant of Venice". In 2005, he appeared in the films "Casanova" opposite Heath Ledger, and Ridley Scott's "Kingdom of Heaven". He has co-starred with John Malkovich in two films, "The Man in the Iron Mask" (1998) and "Eragon" (2006), though they didn't have any scenes together in the latter.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: In 2006, Irons appeared with Laura Dern in David Lynch's "Inland Empire". In 2008, Irons co-starred with Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen in "Appaloosa", directed by Harris. In 2011, Irons appeared alongside Kevin Spacey in the thriller "Margin Call". In 2012, he starred and worked as executive producer of the environmental documentary film "Trashed". He portrayed the mathematician G. H. Hardy in the 2015 film "The Man Who Knew Infinity". Irons played Alfred Pennyworth in Warner Bros.' "" (2016), "Justice League" (2017) and the 2021 director's cut of the same film. In 2018, he played General Vladimir Korchnoi in Francis Lawrence's spy thriller film "Red Sparrow", based on Jason Matthews's book of the same name. In 2021, Irons played Rodolfo Gucci in Ridley Scott's biographical crime drama film "House of Gucci". In 2022, Irons played British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in the period spy thriller "Munich – The Edge of War".


title: Jeremy Irons

text: Irons has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company three times in 1976, 1986–87 and 2010. After years of success in the West End in London, Irons made his New York debut in 1984 and won a Tony Award for his Broadway performance opposite Glenn Close in "The Real Thing".


title: Jeremy Irons

text: After an absence from the London stage for 18 years, in 2006 he co-starred with Patrick Malahide in Christopher Hampton's stage adaptation of Sándor Márai's novel "Embers" at the Duke of York's Theatre.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: He made his National Theatre debut playing former British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan (1957–1963) in "Never So Good", a new play by Howard Brenton which opened at the Lyttelton on 19 March 2008. In 2009, Irons appeared on Broadway opposite Joan Allen in the play "Impressionism". The play ran through 10 May 2009 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: On 17 December 2017 he was awarded the XVI Europe Theatre Prize. On that occasion he performed with Isabelle Huppert "Correspondence 1944-1959 Readings from the epistles between Albert Camus and Maria Casares" and a special creation of Harold Pinter's "Ashes to Ashes," at the Teatro Argentina in Rome.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: Irons has had extensive voice work in a range of different fields throughout his career. He read the audiobook recording of Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited", Paulo Coelho's ""The Alchemist"", Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" (he had also appeared in the 1997 film version of the novel), and "James and the Giant Peach" by the children's author Roald Dahl.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: In particular, he was praised for recording the poetry of T. S. Eliot for BBC Radio 4. Beginning in 2012 with "The Waste Land", he went on to record "Four Quartets" in 2014, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" on the centenary of its publication in 2015, and "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" in 2016. He finally completed recording the entire canon of T. S. Eliot which was broadcast over New Year's Day 2017. In 2020, Irons was one of 40 British voices to read three to four verses (broadcast daily) of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s 150-verse 18th century poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner".


title: Jeremy Irons

text: One of his best known film roles has turned out to be lending his distinctive voice to Scar in "The Lion King" (1994) serving as the main antagonist of the film. Irons has since provided voiceovers for three Disney World attractions. He narrated the "Spaceship Earth" ride, housed in the large geodesic globe at Epcot in Florida from October 1994 to July 2007. He was also the English narrator for the at the Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris. He voiced H. G. Wells in the English-language version of the former Disney attraction "The Timekeeper". He also reprised his role as Scar in "Fantasmic". He is also one of the readers in the 4x CD boxed set of "The Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde", produced by Marc Sinden and sold in aid of the Royal Theatrical Fund.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: He serves as the English-language version of the audio guide for Westminster Abbey in London. He voiced English soldier and WWI poet Siegfried Sassoon in "The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century" (1997), receiving the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance. Irons has served as voice-over in several big cat documentary films (multiple by National Geographic): "Eye of the Leopard" (2006), "The Last Lions" (2011), "The Unlikely Leopard" (2012), "Game of Lions" (2014), for which he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Narrator, "Jade Eyed Leopard" (2020), "Revealed: Ultimate Enemies" (2022), and "Revealed: Eternal Enemies" (2022). Between 2009 and 2012 he narrated the French-produced documentary series about volcanoes, "Life on Fire".


title: Jeremy Irons

text: In 2008, two researchers, a linguist and a sound engineer, found "the perfect [male] voice" to be a combination of Irons's and Alan Rickman's voices based on a sample of 50 voices. Coincidentally, the two actors played brothers in the "Die Hard" series of films. Speaking at 200 words per minute and pausing for 1.2 seconds between sentences, Irons came very close to the ideal voice model, with the linguist Andrew Linn explaining why his "deep gravelly tones" inspired trust in listeners. As German villain Simon Gruber his recital of the English riddle "As I was going to St Ives" (from "Die Hard with a Vengeance") appears in the 2014 book "The Art of Communicating Eloquently". In 2017 he recited the spoken sections, most notably "Late Lament", for The Moody Blues' 50th Anniversary Tour of "Days Of Future Passed", and also appears on the video presentation.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: In 1985, Irons directed a music video for Carly Simon and her heavily promoted single, "Tired of Being Blonde", and in 1994, he had a cameo role in the video for Elastica's hit single "Connection".


title: Jeremy Irons

text: Irons has contributed to other musical performances, recording William Walton's "Façade" with Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale conducted by the composer, and in 1987 the songs from Lerner and Loewe's "My Fair Lady" with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, released on the Decca label. Irons sang segments of "Be Prepared" in the film "The Lion King".


title: Jeremy Irons

text: To mark the 100th anniversary of Noël Coward's birth, Irons sang a selection of his songs at the 1999 Last Night of the Proms held at the Royal Albert Hall in London, ending with "London Pride", a patriotic song written in the spring of 1941 during the Blitz. In 2003, Irons played Fredrik Egerman in a New York revival of Stephen Sondheim's "A Little Night Music", and two years later appeared as King Arthur in Lerner and Loewe's "Camelot" at the Hollywood Bowl. He performed the Bob Dylan song "Make You Feel My Love" on the 2006 charity album "Unexpected Dreams – Songs From the Stars".


title: Jeremy Irons

text: In 2009, Irons appeared on the Touchstone album "Wintercoast", recording a narrative introduction to the album. Recording took place in New York City in February 2009 during rehearsals for his Broadway play "Impressionism".


title: Jeremy Irons

text: In 2014, Irons guested as a presenter and narrator at the Celebrating Jon Lord concert at the Royal Albert Hall. The musical tribute took place to celebrate the life and music of the composer and Deep Purple co-founder. Lord and his wife Vicki were close friends of Irons. Other performers included Paul Weller, Glenn Hughes, Rick Wakeman and Deep Purple.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: At the 1991 Tony Awards, Irons was one of the few celebrities to wear the red ribbon to support the fight against AIDS. He was the first celebrity to wear it onscreen.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: In 1998, Irons and his wife were named in the list of the biggest private financial donors to the Labour Party, a year following its return to government with Tony Blair's victory in the 1997 United Kingdom general election, following eighteen years in opposition. He was also one of several celebrities who endorsed the parliamentary candidacy of the Green Party's Caroline Lucas at the 2015 UK general election.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: In 2004, he publicly declared his support for the Countryside Alliance, referring to the 2004 Hunting Act as an "outrageous assault on civil liberties" and "one of the two most devastating parliamentary votes in the last century".


title: Jeremy Irons

text: Irons is an outspoken critic of the death penalty and has supported the campaign by the human rights organisation Amnesty International UK to abolish capital punishment worldwide. Among his arguments, Irons states the death penalty "infringes on two fundamental human rights, the right to life, and no-one shall be subject to torture", adding that while the person accused of a crime "may have abused those rights, to advocate the same be done to them is to join them".


title: Jeremy Irons

text: During a 2007 Q&A with "The Guardian", Irons named Tony Blair as the living person he most admired; reasoning "For living so publicly with the knowledge that he's not perfect." He then named George W. Bush as the living person he most despised, stating “to hold his position he should have surrounded himself with more reliable people.”


title: Jeremy Irons

text: In 2009, Irons signed a petition in support of Polish film director Roman Polanski, calling for his release after he was arrested in Switzerland in relation to his 1977 charge for drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: In 2011, Irons was criticised in the "British Medical Journal" for his fundraising activities in support of the College of Medicine, an alternative medicine lobby group in the UK linked to King Charles.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: In 2013, Irons caused controversy for an interview with the "Huffington Post", in which he said he "doesn't have a strong feeling either way" on gay marriage but expressed fears that it could "debase marital law", suggesting it could be "manipulated" to allow fathers to avoid paying tax when passing on their estates to their sons, because he supposed "incest laws would not apply to men". He later clarified his comments, saying he was providing an example of a situation that could cause a "legal quagmire" under the laws that allow same-gender marriage, and that he had been "misinterpreted". He added that "some gay relationships are healthier than their heterosexual counterparts". He said in a BBC interview that he wished he had "buttoned his lip" before asking if its legalisation would see fathers marry sons.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: He supports the legal availability of abortion, having said that he believes that "women should be allowed to make the decision". Irons also agreed with an abortion opponent and was quoted as saying that "the church is right to say it's a sin".


title: Jeremy Irons

text: He is the Patron of the ""Emergency Response Team Search and Rescue"" or "ERTSAR" which is a life saving United Nations recognised disaster response search and rescue team and registered Charity. It is based in his home County of Oxfordshire, England. He supports a number of other charities, including the Prison Phoenix Trust in England, and the London-based Evidence for Development which seeks to improve the lives of the world's most needy people by preventing famines and delivering food aid, for both of which he is an active patron. In 2000, Irons received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member Olivia de Havilland during the International Achievement Summit in London.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: In 2010, Irons starred in a promotional video, for "The 1billionhungry project" – a worldwide drive to attract at least one million signatures to a petition calling on international leaders to move hunger to the top of the political agenda.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: Irons was named Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2011. He provided the narration of the 2013 documentary (by Andrew Lauer) "Sahaya Going Beyond" about the work of the charity Sahaya International.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: In November 2015, Irons supported the No Cold Homes campaign by the UK charity Turn2us. Irons was one of nearly thirty celebrities, who included Helen Mirren, Hugh Laurie and Ed Sheeran, to donate items of winter clothing to the campaign, with the proceeds used to help people in the UK struggling to keep their homes warm in winter.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: Irons is a patron of the Chiltern Shakespeare Company, which produces Shakespearean plays annually in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, and a London-based drama school, The Associated Studios. Irons was bestowed an Honorary Life Membership by the University College Dublin Law Society in September 2008, in honour of his contribution to television, film, audio, music, and theatre. Also in 2008, Irons was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Southampton Solent University. On 20 July 2016, Irons was announced as the first Chancellor of Bath Spa University.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: Irons married Julie Hallam in 1969, but they divorced later that year. He married Irish actress Sinéad Cusack on 28 March 1978. They have two sons, Samuel "Sam" Irons (born 1978), who works as a photographer, and who co-starred with his father in "Danny, the Champion of the World", and Maximilian "Max" Irons (born 1985), also an actor. Both of Irons's sons have appeared in films with their father. Irons's wife and children are Catholic; Irons has also been described as a practising Catholic and has stated:


title: Jeremy Irons

text: He owns Kilcoe Castle near Ballydehob, County Cork, Ireland, and had the castle painted a traditional ochre colour which was misreported as being 'pink'. He also has another Irish residence in The Liberties of Dublin, as well as a home in his birth town of Cowes, a detached house in Oxfordshire and a mews house in Notting Hill, London.


title: Jeremy Irons

text: In March 2016 Irons told the BBC Radio 4 "Today" programme that he would refuse an invitation to the palace to accept a New Year Honour should it ever arrive: "I became an actor to be a rogue and a vagabond so I don't think it would be apt for the establishment to pull me in as one of their own, for I ain't."


title: Jeremy Irons

text: In 2013 Irons said he was a smoker and an avid fan of cigars, naming Romeo y Julieta as his favourite brand. He said, "My curse is that I’m a cigarette smoker. I make my own cigarettes. So I have a tendency to inhale when I smoke a cigar. I have to keep reminding myself not to."


title: Two and a Half Men

text: Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS for twelve seasons from September 22, 2003, to February 19, 2015. Originally starring Charlie Sheen in the lead role alongside Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones, the series was about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper, his uptight brother, Alan, and Alan's mischievous son, Jake. As Alan's marriage falls apart and divorce appears imminent, he and Jake move into Charlie's beachfront Malibu house and complicate Charlie's freewheeling life.


title: Two and a Half Men

text: In 2010, CBS and Warner Bros. Television reached a multiyear broadcasting agreement for the series, renewing it through at least the 2011–12 season. In February 2011, however, CBS and Warner Bros. decided to end production for the rest of the eighth season after Sheen entered drug rehabilitation and made "disparaging" comments about the series' creator and executive producer Chuck Lorre. Sheen's contract was terminated the following month and he was written out of the show after it was confirmed that he would not be returning to the series. Ashton Kutcher was hired to replace him the following season as Walden Schmidt, a billionaire who buys Charlie's house after his death.


title: Two and a Half Men

text: In April 2013, CBS renewed the series for an eleventh season after closing one-year deals with Kutcher and Cryer. Jones, who was attending college, was relegated to recurring status but did not make an appearance until the series finale. He was replaced by Jenny (Amber Tamblyn), Charlie's previously unknown daughter. In March 2014, CBS renewed the series for a twelfth season, which was later announced to be the series' last. The season began airing in October 2014 and concluded in February 2015 with the 40-minute series finale "Of Course He's Dead". The success of the series led to it being the third-highest revenue-generating program for 2012, earning $3.24 million an episode.


title: Two and a Half Men

text: The series revolved initially around the lives of the Harper brothers, Charlie and Alan, and Alan's son Jake. Charlie is a bachelor who writes commercial jingles for a living, while leading a hedonistic lifestyle. When Alan's wife, Judith, decides to divorce him, he moves into Charlie's Malibu beach house (due to Charlie's selfishly scorning Alan's female divorce-lawyer), with Jake coming to stay over the weekends. Charlie's housekeeper is Berta (Conchata Ferrell), a sharp-tongued woman who initially resists the change to the household, but grudgingly accepts it. Charlie's one-night stand Rose (Melanie Lynskey) was first introduced as his stalker in the pilot episode.


title: Two and a Half Men

text: The first five seasons find Charlie in casual sexual relationships with numerous women until the sixth season, when he becomes engaged to Chelsea, but the relationship does not last, as Chelsea breaks off their engagement. Afterwards, Charlie flies to Paris with his stalker Rose in the show's "de facto" eighth-season finale. However, in the ninth-season premiere, Charlie was said to have died after he fell in front of a Paris subway train. Suggestions were made that Rose pushed Charlie into the train's path after learning that he had cheated on her.


title: Two and a Half Men

text: Alan's experiences are somewhat different. Throughout the series, Alan continues to deal with his son Jake's growing up and the aftermath of his divorce, while having little success with women. His marriage to Kandi (April Bowlby) at the end of the third season was short-lived. In the fourth season, Alan is back at the beach house paying alimony to two women out of his meager earnings as a chiropractor. In the seventh season, he begins a relationship with Lyndsey McElroy (Courtney Thorne-Smith), the mother of one of Jake's friends. Their relationship is temporarily suspended when Alan cheats on her, and accidentally burns down her house, but the relationship eventually resumes.


title: Two and a Half Men

text: In the ninth-season premiere (after Charlie's death), the beach house is sold to Walden Schmidt (Ashton Kutcher), an Internet billionaire going through a divorce from Bridget (Judy Greer). Alan leaves to live with his mother Evelyn (Holland Taylor) when the house is sold, but Walden invites both Alan and Jake back to live in the beach house. He needs friends, and the three form a tight knit surrogate family.


title: Two and a Half Men

text: At the end of the ninth season, Jake joins the US Army; he appears occasionally during season 10, briefly dating Tammy (Jaime Pressly), who is 17 years his senior and has three kids, as well as Tammy's daughter Ashley (Emily Osment). In the 10th season, Walden proposes to his English girlfriend Zoey (Sophie Winkleman), only to be turned down and discovers she has another man. He becomes depressed. Meanwhile, Alan gets engaged to his girlfriend Lyndsey, while Judith leaves her second husband Herb Melnick (Ryan Stiles) (to whom she had been married since the fourth season) after he cheats on her with his receptionist (they later reconcile). Alan and Lyndsey's relationship of three years ends as she wants to move on. Rose returns and briefly dates Walden, later stalking him as she did to Charlie. Walden begins to date a poor but ambitious woman named Kate (Brooke D'Orsay) and changes his name to "Sam Wilson", pretending to be poor to find someone who wants him for him, not for his money. They later break up when he reveals who he really is, though Kate realizes that Walden's money helped her become a successful clothing designer. Jake announces he is being shipped to Japan for at least a year, so he and Alan go on a father-son bonding trip. Other than a cameo in the series finale, this is the last time Jake appears on the show, though verbal references are made to him.


title: Two and a Half Men

text: In the 11th season, a young woman arrives at the beach house, announcing that she is Charlie Harper's biological daughter, Jenny (Amber Tamblyn). She moves in with Walden and Alan, and later displays many of Charlie's traits, including a love of women and alcohol. Lyndsey begins dating a man named Larry (D. B. Sweeney). In an attempt to learn more about Larry, Alan takes on the pseudonym "Jeff Strongman". His double-life becomes complicated when "Jeff" begins dating Larry's sister, Gretchen (Kimberly Williams-Paisley).


title: Two and a Half Men

text: In the 12th season, after a health scare, Walden decides to reprioritize his life by adopting a baby. He realizes that the only way to do this is to be married, but does not know anyone who will marry him. He asks Alan to marry him and pretend that they are a gay couple, thus ensuring success at adopting. Jenny moves out of the house, and moves in with Evelyn, due to Walden and Alan’s preparing to adopt. They adopt an African-American child, Louis (Edan Alexander), and subsequently divorce to pursue relationships with women. Alan proposes to Lyndsey a second time and she accepts, while Walden begins a relationship with Louis' social worker, Ms. McMartin (Maggie Lawson). Charlie is revealed to be still alive, having been kept prisoner by Rose until escaping, but he is killed before he can reunite with Walden and Alan.


title: Two and a Half Men

text: Following a February 2010 announcement that Sheen was entering drug rehabilitation, filming of the show was put on hiatus, but resumed the following month. On April 1, 2010, "People" reported that after seven seasons, Sheen announced he was considering leaving the show. According to one source, Sheen quit the show after filming the final episode of season seven, purportedly due to his rejection of CBS's offer of $1 million per episode as too low. Sheen eventually stated that he would be back for two more seasons. On May 18, 2010, the New Zealand website Stuff.co.nz reported that a press release issued by Sheen's publicist confirmed that Sheen had signed a new contract for two years at $1.78 million per episode. "To put a fitting end on the two and one-half months of whirlwind speculation, I'm looking forward to returning to my CBS home on Monday nights," Sheen was quoted as saying.


title: Two and a Half Men

text: On January 28, 2011, Sheen voluntarily entered a rehabilitation center for the third time in 12 months. According to Warner Bros. Television and CBS, the show was put on hiatus for an indefinite period of time.


title: Two and a Half Men

text: The following month, after Sheen's verbal denunciations of Chuck Lorre in a radio interview with Alex Jones and an online interview with TMZ.com, CBS announced that "Two and a Half Men" would cease production for the rest of its eighth season. This affected an estimated 200 employees, and caused Warner Bros., CBS, Lorre, Sheen and other profit participants an estimated $10 million loss from the unmade eight remaining episodes. Afterward, Sheen was interviewed on ABC's "20/20", NBC's "Today" and CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight", where he continued to criticize Lorre and CBS. On March 7, CBS and Warner Bros. Television jointly announced that they had terminated Sheen's "Two and a Half Men" contract, citing "moral turpitude" as a main cause of separation. No further decisions about the show's future were released.


title: Two and a Half Men

text: Cast members Marin Hinkle and Holland Taylor expressed sadness at Sheen's departure and personal problems. Jon Cryer did not publicly comment on the matter. In response, Sheen called him "a turncoat, a traitor, [and] a troll" in an E! Online interview, although he later issued a "half-apology" to Cryer for the remarks. Sheen sued Lorre and Warner Bros. Television for $100 million, saying that he had filed the lawsuit on behalf of himself and "Two and a Half Men"'s cast and crew; however, only Sheen was named as a plaintiff in court documents.


title: Two and a Half Men

text: In April 2011, Sheen mentioned during a radio interview during his tour's stop in Boston that CBS and he were discussing a possible return to the show.<ref name="http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2011/04/charlie-sheen-discussions-about-two-and-a-half-men-return-really.html"></ref> Lorre announced the same month that he had developed an idea for a revival of "Two and a Half Men," excluding Sheen, with Cryer in a key role alongside a new character. Hugh Grant was approached to replace Sheen but he declined. On May 13, CBS announced Ashton Kutcher would join the cast. Kutcher stated, "I can't replace Charlie Sheen, but I'm going to work my ass off to entertain the hell out of people!"


title: Two and a Half Men

text: On August 2, 2011, it was reported that the season nine premiere would begin with Sheen's character killed off and his ex-girlfriends attending his funeral. Afterward, Charlie's Malibu home would be put up for sale; interested buyers would include celebrities from Lorre's other sitcoms and John Stamos, as well as Kutcher's character, Walden Schmidt, "an Internet billionaire with a broken heart." Reviewers compared the situation to what happened in 1987 to Valerie Harper, who was fired from the sitcom "Valerie" (later titled "Valerie's Family: The Hogans" and then "The Hogan Family"). Her character was killed off-screen and she was replaced the following season.


title: Two and a Half Men

text: Sheen said he would watch his "fake funeral attended by [his] fake ex-girlfriends, from [his] very, very real movie theater, with [his] very real hotties in tow." His response to the season-nine premiere was very positive. He reportedly felt Charlie Harper's funeral was "eerie but fun", and that the introduction of Kutcher's character in a cloud of his own character's ashes was particularly enjoyable.


title: Two and a Half Men

text: The attention "Two and a Half Men" received due to the change in characters gave the series a boost. Average total viewers during the 2011–2012 season rose 13% to 15 million and the 5.2 rating in the 18–49 demographic rose by 27%. Kutcher's debut as Walden Schmidt, in the episode "Nice to Meet You, Walden Schmidt", was seen by 28.7 million people on September 19, 2011. The Nielsen company reported it the highest-rated episode since the series began. At the 2012 Emmys, "Two and a Half Men" was nominated for four awards and won three, the most Emmys it had won in a single year since it began. In 2012, Kutcher replaced Sheen as the highest-paid U.S. actor currently on the air, receiving $700,000 per episode. For Kutcher's second season, the show moved to the 8:30 pm Thursday time slot, replacing "Rules of Engagement." "Two and a Half Men" improved ratings for the time slot, which were up from the previous year. Jennifer Graham Kizer of "IVillage" thought that the series changed tone in its Kutcher era, saying it felt "less evil". Lorre, Cryer, Hinkle, Taylor, Ferrell and Lynskey had nothing but praise for Kutcher, believing he had "saved the show".


title: Two and a Half Men

text: Kutcher was the highest-paid actor on television for four years according to "Forbes", earning an estimated $24 million between June 2012 and June 2013, $750,000 per episode. Cryer was the second-highest-paid star on American television, earning $600,000–700,000 per episode.


title: Two and a Half Men

text: In 2021, Sheen expressed regret for his past behavior, saying "There [were] 55 different ways for me to handle that situation and I chose number 56."