Everett (WA) – Boeing announced the fourth significant delay of the arrival of its 787 airliner within seven months. The company now expects the first plane to take off in the fourth quarter of this year, a full year behind the original schedule. Customers can expect their 787 to arrive in the third quarter of next year, Boeing said today.

Slower than expected arriving parts from suppliers, unexpected rework and an additional testing margin are pushing the official launch of what may be Boeing’s most anticipated plane in 15 years (the 777 was introduced in 1994) is pushed two more quarters into the future.

Boeing today said that it plans to deliver about 25 planes next year to customers, beginning in the third quarter. That number is down from 109 promised by Boeing just five months ago. The first flight was moved into the fourth quarter of this year: Last January , the company expected a Q2 date for the first flight, in December it talked about Q1 and in October it was Q4 2008, while the delivery of the first plane was scheduled for May 2008 until October 2007.   

"Over the past few months, we have taken strong actions to confront and overcome start-up issues on the program, and we have made solid progress," said Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Scott Carson. "Nevertheless, the traveled work situation and some unanticipated rework have prevented us from hitting the milestones we laid out in January. Our revised schedule is built upon an achievable, high-confidence plan for getting us to our power-on and first-flight milestones.”

"We deeply regret the disruption and disappointment these changes will cause for our customers, and we will work closely with each of them to minimize the impact," said Carson.

Not surprisingly, the delay of the baseline 787 has also changed the delivery plans of other variants of the airplane. Boeing said that the 787-9, a larger variant of the airplane, will be the first derivative of the baseline 787 with delivery planned for early 2012. The 787-3, a shorter-range model previously slated to deliver in 2010, will now become the second derivative of the airplane family.

Boeing has received 762 orders for 787 airplanes so far.

I think they shouldnt have laughed some much

Apr 09, 2008 10:21     

Well, I think now boeing know they shouldnt have laughed so much at air bus when the a380 were delayed, and delayed...
Rafael Fernandes report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +2

How ironic

Apr 09, 2008 14:02     

I was going to say the same thing as Rafael. Airbus was embarassed when it had to delay the A380 but the bashing of Airbus was insane. Now Boeing finds themselves in the same hot seat. It sucks for them, but we all know this competition between Boeing and Airbus is necessary. Let's try not to bash people when they try to accomplish something great and stumble upon glitches and difficulties. It's the nature of life.

RoOophy report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

hmm i wonder

Apr 09, 2008 16:42     

if these delays are really a surprise?? say youre boeing, youve got this eurotrash company selling their giant new plane and ya need something to compete with it. so ya luanch your dreamliner, factor in the penalties for the delayed delivery time and say - yea! you can have it on 08!!! even though you have no intention of delivering then, for the price of some penalty payments, ya get a shit load of orders and stop airbus gaining more market share. thats how dime woulda played it anyway ;)

dime report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -2