Boeing to delay deliveries

Boeing Co. said it was delaying deliveries of its 747-8 freighter and intercontinental airplanes because of design changes, limited engineering resources and an eight-week strike that shut the company’s factories.

The Chicago-based aerospace firm said the first freighters now would be delivered in the third quarter of 2010 instead of in late 2009, as previously planned. The first passenger planes will be delivered in the second quarter of 2011, rather than in late 2010.

Separately, Boeing reached a tentative settlement on a four-year contract covering nearly 21,000 engineers, scientists and technical workers after talks that were delayed by a machinists union strike.