Boeing Delays Delivery of 12 Jetliners

Boeing Co. said deliveries of 12 aircraft scheduled for this month will be delayed until the fourth quarter because of production difficulties. The delays will hurt Boeing’s earnings in the third quarter and may force the world’s largest maker of commercial aircraft to pay penalties to airlines for missing delivery dates. Boeing is trying to boost jetliner output to record levels, and its suppliers are having trouble keeping up. The thousands of employees it has hired in the last two years also are struggling to pick up the pace, Boeing said. “They’re more than doubling production in a very short time, and that’s going to cause problems,” said Bill Whitlow, a money manager at Safeco Corp. in Seattle, who has 55,000 Boeing shares in his funds. The company also is considering using workers from McDonnell Douglas Corp. facilities in Long Beach. Boeing shares fell $1.50 to close at $51.44 on the New York Stock Exchange.