Boeing warns of more Dreamliner delays
Boeing (NYSE: BA) today announced that first flight of the 787 Dreamliner will
be postponed due to a need to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section
of the aircraft.
23 June, 2009
FT - Boeing has been forced to postpone the first flight of its troubled 787 Dreamliner, its flagship new aircraft development programme, after discovering a weakness in the structure of the jet.
The US aircraft maker, which was already running nearly two years behind
schedule, had been due to make the maiden flight of the 787 by June 30 and
said at the Paris Air Show last week that the long-awaited start of the flight
test programme was on track.
It announced on Tuesday, however, yet another embarrassing setback in the
troubled project and said it would be “several weeks” before it could update
with another schedule.
Boeing said it needed to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft, following the discovery of a problem during scheduled tests on the full-scale static test aircraft.
The first flight and first delivery of the 787 would be rescheduled once it had determined the necessary modification and testing plan.
The 787 Dreamliner was finally due to enter commercial service, two years late, in the first quarter next year with All Nippon Airways, according to the latest Boeing schedule.
Boeing shares fell heavily in morning trade in New York. After an hour’s trade the shares were down $3.34 or 7 per cent at $43.56.
The fresh round of delays could expose Boeing to the payment of more heavy penalties to its airline customers, many of which have already been forced to take costly steps to find alternative capacity, while they wait for their 787 deliveries.
The 787 Dreamliner, a medium capacity, long range jet, is ushering in big changes in the way commercial aircraft are designed and manufactured.
The maiden flight was set to be a momentous occasion for the commercial aerospace industry, but like the A380 superjumbo by Airbus before it, it has fallen far behind schedule and is a stark reminder of the daunting complexity of developing new generation large commercial aircraft.
Boeing is launching a new era with the radically improved use of lighter materials in the 787, including the first all-composite airframe, as well as streamlined manufacturing and assembly processes and a fresh commercial approach in which aircraft financing needs have been factored in at the design stage.
The US group has broken fresh ground spreading its industrial web around the world with the increased use of outside suppliers for the development and manufacturing of many modules of the aircraft.
For the first time the wings of a Boeing aircraft are being made in Japan, which is accounting for 35 per cent of the airframe in total, with other key outside suppliers in Italy and the US.
Boeing’s original aim was to play more the role of a systems integrator rather than the manufacturer, but in the process it has been forced to confront serious unexpected challenges and shortcomings in its own design and engineering processes and in the way it manages its global supply chain.
The marketing campaign for the 787 has been highly successful, but the pressures of the global recession are having an impact on the 787 order backlog, as some airlines seek to defer or cancel deliveries. In the first five months this year Boeing announced 57 cancellations for the 787 against 13 new orders.
Boeing was due to reach full production of around 10 787s a month in the second half of 2012. It has an order book for more than 860 787s and said last week it was actively looking at a second assembly line that would take the rate up further.