[Jambe]

It often depends upon who the customer is.

Often times an airline will negotiate the purchase of the airframe and engines seperately - as often the engines are financed seperate from the airframe. (This applies to airframes where more than one engine manufacturer is available)

Clearly the airframe manufacturer (Boeing) must have at least one engine to proceed through flight testing/certification. Probably due to the limited number of airframes forcast it wouldn't justify having multiple engine options.

I know at one time (back when I was designing engine controls for turbine engines - Bendix ENCD) the costs for the engines over their lifetime would easily exceed the cost of the airframe. Probably still true today.

[Sonar5]

Great news for Boeing, and GE.

I also heard that another aircraft is attempting to finally get off the ground on Wednesday, weather permitting, and cows mooing that is..... lol

Go Boeing..... :-)

Regards,
Joe

[DuncanWaring]

...the costs for the engines over their lifetime would easily exceed the cost of the airframe.

I seem to recall those big newer engines run $25 million each. If we figure an overhaul costs half that, and is good for 5000 hours, it means engines cost $5000 per hour.

If the airframe life is 50,000 hours, the engine cost ends up being $250 million.

Full-retail on a fully-equipped 777 is about $240 million.

Disclosure: The only figure I'm certain of is the cost of a 777. The rest are "educated guesses".