Newest 787 Dreamliner set to take off as Trump roils Boeing

On the day President-elect Donald Trump lashed out at Boeing for the cost of replacing Air Force One, mechanics and engineers at the planemaker’s South Carolina factory were focused on another challenge: making the first 787-10 Dreamliner. The manufacturer is counting on the newest and longest Dreamliner to help turn its marquee carbon-fiber jet into a cash machine. So far, the -10 is meeting deadlines and hitting performance targets, a rarity in an industry where delays are the norm. The question is whether a glutted market will crimp profit and sales -- and whether Trump will further dent orders by raising trade tensions with China, a crucial market. Boeing’s newest widebody is central to a plan to erase $27.5b in deferred 787 costs that were accumulated over a decade of losses. The first of three planned flight-test planes was loaded onto the final assembly line in North Charleston over the past week, achieving a production milestone ahead of plan. “I’m very optimistic,” said Ken Sanger, a Boeing vice president overseeing development of the 787-10, the third Dreamliner model. “Without going into the numbers, the strategy is working very, very well.” For now, the first -10 lies in sections on the factory floor as workers inspect its spun-fiber frame. A white protective coating makes the segments look like giant larva. Over the next two weeks, mechanics will slide them to the first position on the assembly line, where the longest fuselage barrel will be joined to wings, nose and tail. It will mark the first of five stages of a metamorphosis into a sleek flying machine.<br/>