Boeing Delays 787 Again

For at least the third time, Boeing has pushed back the first flight and initial deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner, as the manufacturer grapples with “slower than expected completion of work that traveled from supplier facilities into Boeing's final assembly line.” Under the new timetable, the first flight of the 787 will move into the fourth quarter of this year rather than the end of the second quarter, and first delivery is now planned for the third quarter of 2009 instead of first quarter. The new schedule anticipates approximately 25 deliveries in 2009, Boeing said. “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. Also, while the fundamental technologies and design of the 787 remain sound, we have inserted some additional schedule margin for dealing with other issues we may uncover in testing prior to first flight and in the flight test program," said Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Scott Carson.