Boeing announces another 787 delay
Boeing Co. pushed back its oft-delayed 787 jetliner by another six months Wednesday, postponing the jet’s debut in commercial service until the third quarter of 2009, further jolting the company’s credibility and likely costing it billions of dollars in additional costs and penalties.
The latest delays -- the third revision to its delivery schedule and fourth switch in plans for the plane’s first test flight -- underscore the problems Boeing is having keeping to a schedule while leaning heavily for the first time on outside contractors to do most of the manufacturing work. The aircraft touted for its potential to be more fuel-efficient than other large jets is now more than a year behind the original schedule.
The inaugural test flight now isn’t expected to take place until the fourth quarter as Boeing builds more time into the schedule to reduce the risk of further delays. The Chicago-based company had initially planned to begin test flights last August or September and deliver the first plane to Japan’s All Nippon Airways in May -- a delivery it had recently rescheduled to early 2009.
Investors showed relief that the long-rumored delay had finally been announced, driving up shares in the company by $3.58, or 4.8%, to $78.60 after a sharp decline in recent weeks.
But customers are increasingly uneasy about the ongoing setbacks. All Nippon Airways spokesman Rob Henderson said the carrier was “extremely disappointed” with the latest delay. He said that until Boeing provided a definitive schedule it could not assess the effect on its route planning.
The more than 50 airlines that have placed 892 orders for the top-selling plane will be entitled to hefty compensation for the delays, and Boeing’s reputation for reliability also is at stake.
The company can ill afford any more glitches or reneging on schedule commitments if it is to maintain the momentum the 787 has helped it seize from rival Airbus.
“I think there’s an awful lot riding on this,” said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with the aerospace consulting firm Teal Group. “It’s one of those three-strikes-and-you’re-out scenarios from the standpoint of management, from the standpoint of a lot of people who are needed to keep the faith.”
No customer has yet to cancel an order for the new jet, but the backlog is valued at a whopping $151 billion.
The 787, Boeing’s first newly designed jet since airlines started flying the 777 in 1995, will be the world’s first large commercial airplane made mostly of carbon-fiber composites, which are lighter and more durable than aluminum and don’t corrode like metals.
The company blamed the newest delay in part on slow progress on work that suppliers didn’t complete, and on engineering changes on the plane’s center wing box.
