Originally Posted by Gardyloo
The Seattle press this morning, in covering the sale to the Chinese carriers, says that Boeing will be re-naming the ship the 787 since 8 is regarded in China as a lucky number.
I was in Beijing when this sale was announced. The local press (CCTV9) gave it a very positive spin so as to make it sound like the Chinese airlines only did business with Boeing.
I found it interesting that on the way to and from PEK there was a billboard for the Airbus 380.... just a graphic of the plane, the name (in english), and some Chinese text. I can't read or speak Mandarin, so I'm not sure what it said. The driver of the car couldn't speak English so he couldn't translate.