All together now. Today our fourth flight test 777-9 joined the rest of the #777X fleet at Seattle’s Boeing Field a t.co/XQJ5wrloA4.

• The first #777X flight test airplane is about to get painted. Join us #live today at 10 a.m. PST (18:00 UTC) from Everett, Wash.! We'll share a rare glimpse inside a #Boeing paint facility and hear from our team about what's next for the 777X test airplane.
• Boeing successfully flew and landed its new 777X aircraft, the first commercial airplane with folding wingtips. Watch a full recap of the day's events.Subsc.
• Cathay Pacific could swap some or even all of its orders for the Boeing 777X to the Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner as the airline looks to both trim its financial commitments and right-size its fleet for the post-coronavirus world.
• At 252 ft (77 m) in length, the 777X is the longest commercial jet. Additionally, the airplane’s wingspan, boosted by the world’s largest folding wingtips, will measure 235 ft (72 m), almost the same as the airplane’s length.

Boeing's (NYSE: BA) decision to further delay the debut of its 777X widebody jet puts a significant portion of the jet's order book at risk, highlighting the dangers the aerospace giant still faces even as the pandemic recedes.

The 777X was supposed to be in service by now, but Boeing delayed its debut, initially until 2022 and more recently until late 2023. The company is still reeling from the 20-month grounding of another of its aircraft, the 737 MAX, after a pair of fatal accidents. The 777X delays are due, in part, to greater regulatory scrutiny over the new plane certification process.

The delays could take their toll. In its annual form 10-K filed Monday, Boeing reduced the number of firm 777X orders to 191. That's 38% below the number of orders the company lists on its web site.

Boeing told Bloomberg, which first reported the reduction, that the drop is due to an accounting standard that requires the company to remove sales that are at risk of falling through. With the plane now delayed until 2023, some customers have the right to walk away from their sales contracts.

Boeing has invested billions in the development of the 777X, taking a charge of $6.5 billion in the fourth quarter related to delays in the program. However, it is facing a difficult sales environment for the plane. The pandemic has caused airlines to scale back their fleets, and with international travel expected to recover later than domestic flying, there is not a lot of demand for large, ocean-spanning jets like the 777X.

Boeing 777x-10

It is not certain that any customer will exercise their option to walk away, but customers are at least considering it. Emirates, the Middle Eastern airline that accounts for about one-third of the 777X order book, has said it could swap some of its orders with smaller 787 Dreamliners.

Lou Whiteman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

10 stocks we like better than Boeing

When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*

David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Boeing wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

*Stock Advisor returns as of November 20, 2020

To access the Airbus A380, Boeing considered to offer the new 777 X in an extended version. The 777X-10 should contain more passengers.

He's not a bestseller. Yet the Airbus A380, the Boeing 747-8 in the way, which is selling much worse thanks to higher costs per seat. Currently it is 319 to 125 firm orders. The American aircraft maker wants to change this apparently.

Boeing thinks according to the news agency Bloomberg, to stretch the largest variant of the 777 X, to access to the A380. The Americans have gone to various airlines to test how demand 777 X would be after a larger, which is to say 777X-10. Also Emirates should be been requested according to Bloomberg.

Four additional series

The 777X-9 offers passengers in a two-class configuration of 400 to 425. The first units of the improved version of the long distance classic Boeing 777 will be delivered starting in 2020. Customers are under Other Lufthansa, Qatar, Etihad and Emirates. GE Aviation provides the engines, the GE9X.

777 10x

The Boeing 777X-10 would be an extended 777X-9, which has around four additional rows. She would thus cover passengers to the 450 to 460. Thus it would be but still smaller than the Airbus A380. In it, 644 people found in two classes. There are 455 for four classes, many airlines fitted but fewer seats. Korean Air, for example, has 407 Chair in the A380, Emirates 497, Lufthansa 526.

777x-10