Text: Irina Malkova THIS BUILDING DAILY COMES MORE THAN 12 THOUSAND WORKERS. In essence, this is an autonomous city with its own infrastructure, a park zone and even its own airfield. WE DEPARTED TO SEATTLE TO VISIT ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING PLACES IN THE WORLD - A BOEING PRODUCTION PLANT.
Want to know what awaits air passengers in the future? Interactive and entertaining interface inside the cabin, where all your senses will be involved. For example, when flying to Paris, you will be accompanied by the smells of hot croissants and the views of the Eiffel Tower to the sounds of Champs-Élysées.
So temptingly told me about the future of civil aviation, Dmitry Khrol, head of international communications at the world's largest aviation corporation Boeing.
Having worked for a long time at the Boeing representative office in Moscow, two years ago Dmitry was invited to work in Seattle, the holy of holies of the aviation industry, where 100 years ago entrepreneur William Boeing first founded an aircraft manufacturing company and where Boeing assembly plants are still located - from 737's to the fantastic 787's Dreamliner.
Today, Seattle is a small city with about 700 thousand inhabitants, spread out on the west coast of America two hours drive from San Francisco and its natural landscape is surprisingly reminiscent of Switzerland. Only here, instead of Lake Geneva, is Lake Washington, in whose honor the state is named and around which the city is built. Seattle took a place of honor on the world map not only because Jimmy Hendricks, Bruce Lee and Kurt Cobain lived and worked here, and the film "Sleepless in Seattle" was also shot, but also due to the location of holdings such as Microsoft, Amazon.com, Starbucks and, of course, Boeing. By the way, this aviation giant creates the lion's share of jobs throughout the district.
The most expected replenishment of the liner line for the corporation is the new Boeing 737 MAX, the assembly of which was launched in early June this year and which, according to forecasts, will become the most popular model in the world by 2017. One of its first customers was the Dubai-based flydubai, which celebrated its fifth anniversary last year. Already, flydubai has ordered about 100 of these flights, ready to continue to delight passengers with improved flight comfort and, importantly, affordable ticket prices.
The new generation of Boeing will be equipped with CFM International LEAP-1B engines, which will reduce fuel consumption by 13% and reduce the cost of the flight. According to flydubai operations director Kenneth Gill, the acquisition of a fleet of Boeing 737 MAX will also significantly increase passenger traffic. Kenneth is originally from Texas, at one time he was a pilot himself, then - COO of Southwest Airlines, then Saudi Arabian Airlines, and now, being the top manager of flydubai, he knows how to operate the airline firsthand. He personally communicates with pilots and crew members, often checks the sides himself.
How do airplanes. Boeing 737 At the factory in Renton (one of the suburbs of Seattle) they make only the Boeing 737, on which each of us flew at least once. The production is organized as a moving assembly line, in fact it is the world's first conveyor assembly of passenger aircraft.
10 days - it takes so much time to collect one sparkling Boeing 737.
A total of 42 aircraft per month are assembled at the Renton plant, and the 737s line itself has been produced since 1967.
The main thing is safety, so every employee works without haste, because the price of any mistake is very high.
Assembling parts of the Boeing is carried out manually.
The production workshop is open around the clock. The brigades replace one another, the beginning of the working day at 6 o’clock in the morning. After assembly, the aircraft is towed to the airfield, where fueling and a series of pre-flight tests take place. Then flight tests are performed. After a series of test flights, the aircraft is transferred to the customer.
Truly dedicated to his work, he is not without reason proud of his company. Starting with 35 aircraft in 2009, flydubai's fleet now has about 50 aircraft flying in more than 80 different directions. “The people working at flydubai are one big family. We all learn from each other and work together to achieve common goals,” Kenneth shares. “Sometimes they ask me if I, as COO, leave the door to my office open. So, I’ll answer - I don’t have a door in my office at all. "
When communicating with Kenneth, you involuntarily recharge his amazing, incomparable enthusiasm from the success that the company brings. His burning eyes make him believe that a bright future awaits flydubai. The company does not intend to change its concept of flights for a distance of more than 6 hours from Dubai. At the same time, cities such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Ufa, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Krasnodar, Volgograd, Kazan, Astana, Tbilisi, Kiev, Kharkov and others are among the main directions. The market of Russia and the CIS countries is about 23% of the total flydubai route network, which characterizes the company as oriented, including the needs of Russian-speaking passengers.
Despite the fact that the entire fleet of the airline consists of Boeings no older than 3.2 years old, the new 737 MAX will certainly add comfort and safety to passengers.
Speaking of comfort. In addition to the production workshop where aircraft are assembled, the Boeing factory in Renton (a suburb of Seattle) also houses the Configuration Studio and Customer Experience Center. In this building, reminiscent of a huge elite boutique with high ceilings and the interior of an expensive art gallery, the air carrier can choose the interior and interior design.
At will, Boeing experts will help you choose chairs, fabric or leather for upholstery, the company and the desired configuration of kitchen appliances and shelving. The customer has the opportunity to evaluate the comfort of the seats himself in a 100% simulation of the aircraft cabin, as if specially created for shooting Hollywood films. A special performance begins in the interior lighting pavilion.
It's no secret that the best engineers, psychologists and marketers from around the world work for Boeing Corporation. The main thing that passengers expect during a flight is safety, minimal stress and comfort. And if the comfort of the seats is determined by the specific distance between them, at which your elbow does not touch the elbow of another passenger, then high ceilings, for example, can be simulated by backlighting. Specialists in studying the influence of colors on human consciousness came to the conclusion that blue lighting can visually increase space, so Boeing Sky Interior is used in recent generations of Boeing - the interior ceiling and side panels are illuminated with a pleasant, slightly bluish light. Thus, visually, the cabin acquires a larger volume and height, which for a passenger is a factor that reduces stress.
But during lunch or dinner, the illumination color on board quietly changes to muffled pink or red, since it is believed that these shades stimulate appetite and make food more attractive. At the same time, eating is still the main point that reduces stress during the flight.
Air carriers themselves choose various modes of cabin lighting in a wide range of colors: from soft sky-blue tones to the calm, relaxing colors of the setting sun. All this is aimed at improving well-being and creating more pleasant conditions on board.
By the way, on almost all sides of flydubai there is a business class that meets all the requirements of a similar level of comfort, which allows you to focus on more affluent passengers. The opening of its own flydubai business lounge in Terminal 2 of Dubai International Airport contributes to this.
The speed with which flydubai responds to changing global realities is simply amazing. An effective business model, based on the best practices of Western management, will soon expand the route network to 100 different directions. What will make flydubai one of the fastest growing airlines in the world.
