7E7 Dreamliner: Most Major Design Work is Done

A year ago next week in a boardroom in Chicago, directors of the Boeing Co. peppered the jet builder's top executives with questions about their proposed new plane, the 7E7 Dreamliner.

The questioning went on for four hours, chief executive Harry Stonecipher said later - not so much because board members doubted the plan but because they were excited about the plane and its potential.

Now, Boeing is 12 months closer to its goal of getting the 7E7 in the air, and program chief Mike Bair says the work is going better than he expected.

Work is being completed ahead of schedule, and even the surprises have been pleasant ones, Bair said, adding that customer interest has been unprecedented.

"It just gets better and better and better," he said.

But even enthusiasts still have questions about Boeing's first 21st-century jet. Contracts with key partners have been slow in coming. Customers have put down deposits but haven't signed contracts. And Airbus plans to counter the 7E7 with a jet of its own.

Still, aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia said, the plane is gaining momentum.

"When you hear the partners talk, they sound very impressed," said Aboulafia, with the Teal Group in Virginia.

"The 7E7 is the plane called hope," he said. "It promises great things."

Ahead of schedule

The program has already achieve

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