Airline Fanatic

Boeing, speaking at their quarterly 787 program update, said today they see no further delays in production of the brand new 787 Dreamliner. A few months ago they informed the world that, like competitor Airbus, their new major model of aircraft would face a delay in delivery. So far that delay has only been six months, as opposed to Airbus’ two year delay, but the production schedule is still extremely tight. Many analysts expect Boeing to announce further delays, but so far executives are sticking to the revised schedule.

As things currently stand Boeing expects the first flight of the 787 to take place some time in the first quarter of next yea, with the first delivery model going to All Nippon Airways by the end of next year. All in all in 2008 Boeing still expects to produce 40 Dreamliners, with 109 rolling off production lines in 2009. Currently Boeing has a staggering 762 orders from 52 customers, which effectively means the plane is sold out through 2014. Now I just can’t wait to fly on this thing!

Boeing announced today they have delayed the delivery of the first 787 Dreamliner by at least six months into November or December of 2008. The reason for the delay is continued trouble in assembling the first plane, as well as suppliers having issues obtaining the necessary parts to complete orders. With an airplane this complex and built in so many different countries among so many companies, you had to expect some form of delays to arise. If Boeing had actually managed to pull this off on time it would have been an engineering miracle.

What Boeing must do is make sure no further delays afflict the program. Airbus is introducing their own new plane, the well published A380, more than two years after it was supposed to launch. I personally believe Airbus’ delays are due to massive bureacracy in a company who’s job it is to provide jobs for French and German citizens rather than make airplanes. Boeing doesn’t have this same issue, so we shall see if they are able to overcome this delay and get those planes rolling off the line without further ado.