Boeing’s longer range claims under cloud

With its technologically advanced 787 Boeing offered airlines huge savings in fuel as also better passenger comfort. It also offered the ability to reach just about any airport on the globe without having to stop.

The jet was designed to fly 330 minutes - five-and-a-half hours - from the nearest airport at any point on its routes, a feature allowing extended flights over water or deserted regions like the North Pole, which held immense appeal for airlines, which were often required to stay within three hours of emergency landing spots. Boeing estimated that the plane's ability would create 450 new routes.

According to the New Yorlk Times boeing is now struggling to live down the 787's recent smoke and fire episodes with its lithium-ion batteries that had led to the grounding of all 50 planes delivered so far.

With investigators in the US and Japan still not being able to find the cause of those problems, it could be months before federal regulators felt confident enough of Boeing's redesigned batteries to approve extending 787 flights.