The Boeing Company successfully completed on Saturday the first test flight of what is the world's largest twin-engine plane- the Boeing 777X.
The plane, which can hold over 400 passengers, took off at around 10:10 AM from Everett- the largest city in Snohomish County in Washington- before landing some hours later at around 2:00 PM in Seattle.
The test flight was forced to be cancelled twice last week due to poor weather conditions. Saturday's test flight is the first in a series of tests required to take place before Boeing can apply for approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), De Standaard explains.
The 777X was expected to be launched earlier this year, but due to some technical difficulties, the launch was postponed.
After receiving over 300 orders for the 777X model, Boeing hopes to be able to deliver the first unit some time in 2021, when it will face competition from Airbus' A350-1000 plane which can seat about 360 passengers.
The first successful flight test of the 777X comes after Boeing was forced to ground nearly 400 models of a different new airliner- the 737 Max- in the middle of 2019, following two fatal crashes that saw 346 people killed.
Only days after Boeing announced that airlines should not expect for the 737 Max to be flying again before the middle of 2020, the FAA came out on Friday to say that it the 737 Max may make a sooner return.
Evie McCullough
The Brussels Times
