Flightglobal:

Boeing has announced that it has postponed the maiden flight of the 787 after deciding to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section of the first......

Author: Max Kingsley-Jones

Date: 23 June 2009

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According to Boeing,Section 11 (center wing box) and Section 12 (wingbox). 18 locations require fix on each side of aircraft.

What a mess, I guess an airshow is never a good time to unveil bad news but it does seem rather late in the day to unveil news like this, especially so close to the first flight.

and amazingly just a couple of days after Paris closed

I guess their sales force really earnt their money last week keeping a staright face talking about delivery dates

Amazing you guys at Flight International fell for the "first flight imminent" bullshit that Jon Ostrower was fed before the show. 

Boeing have completely lost their way over handling stuff like this - they have their biggest customers massively irritated with them, as much for lack of transparency as lack of progress and waste those customers' time in Paris waffling about a second production line in 2012 rather than owning up to yet another problem which had been studied for six weeks before Paris...

 and now "it's only a small area" as well as "we'll update you in the coming WEEKS................."

Thank God it wasn't something major then..............

 

Stand by for the Qatar cancellation:

Quote from FI before the latest news: Chief executive Akbar Al Baker blasted Boeing during the Paris air show for taking too long to resolve unspecific "issues", warning that it would "walk away" from its 60-strong 787 contract if they are not quickly resolved. "We have some serious issues with Boeing and if they do not play ball with us they will be in for a very, very serious surprise," says Al Baker...  ...While he is unspecific about the nature of the issues, Al Baker says that Boeing is not dealing with them "in a professional manner, and Qatar Airways is very impatient with them". He adds that the airline has the right to "walk away" from the deal if "the delay is unreasonable".

Now its not just unreasonable, its unquantified, again.

Perhaps the next big decision Boeing will have to make is to find a more suitable name for the 787 project - Dreamliner no longer seems appropriate somehow. Maybe we could come up with some suggestions to help them out. Its almost as if this great plane maker has forgotten how to build aircraft. I can fully appreciate that new materials are being used here but problems with fasteners and now this.......... We'll have to wait and see how Airbus get on with the 350XWB project but I'm willing to wager that they'll progress more positively than Boeing has with the 787. (don't mention the A400.... doh!!) What do all you guy's think? John.

You are right, sounds like this is going to cost them the Qatar orders

Launch customer ANA's -3 orders don't look too good either, following JAL switching their -3 order to -8's a couple of weeks ago

FI Quote: Japan's All Nippon Airways, the launch customer for the Boeing 787, says that it is disappointed with the latest slip in the aircraft's delivery schedule and has urged the airframer to get the programme on track.

"We are disappointed that the first flight of the 787 will be postponed, and urge Boeing to specify the schedule for the programme as a whole as quickly as possible," the airline says in a statement.

ANA has ordered 22 787-8s and 28 787-3s

Why on earth are we bashing Boeing here? Let's not forget - the 787 is undergoing TESTS, tests which are specificaly targeted at trying to find faults like this - and with an all new aircraft like the 787, things like this are going to happen! Maybe Boeing should not fix this problem, fly it, deliver it in Febuary 2010 and watch as Dreamliners crash all over the world? No. Or maybe they should take the sensible course of action, fix it, and push back (again) the first flight and deliveries. (also Flight International were well within their rights to assume the 787 flight was imminent - it really did look like it this time.)  Also, Qatar would be stupid to walk away from this order. If an aircraft like the 787 is going to save you a lot of money, what's the point in walking away from it? I find it unfair of Qatar that they are complaining at Boeing when Boeing are doing exactly what Qatar want.

Boeing massively underestimated the technical challenges they had got themselves into and consistently alienate their customers by pretending they didn't and making it worse by claiming they will be back on track by a date they then go on to miss. If airines new they would not get 787s until three years after their original expectations, many would have bought A330's or 777's, but Boeing would have retained some credibility with its customers.

The issue is not that a new plastic plane is hard to make and may take a while to get right.

It was that Boeing claimed it wasn't and wouldn't and have told enough lies about it that no-one believes anything they say any more...

...that's why they're getting bashed!

 I always see the flight test program as going through the motions to a certain degree - to prove the aircraft is airworthy for that all important certification step. Manufacturers don't usually expect to discover major issues at this point. To discover such major issues at a late stage is very worrying - Boeing's designers must have seen this coming. Did they ignore the problem and hope it would go away? Or did no one at the company discover this in the computer models? I can't understand how they've messed this up.

 Boeing need to admit they cocked up here bad style like Airbus did when they discovered the full extent of the wiring issues. The A380 wiring issues should never have happened but in comparison to the 787 wing issue it now seems trivial and minor. Arguably, the A380 was a brand new plane - something like this had never been built before, however like most test programs only minor issues where discovered and promptly rectified.

 The way Boeing treats its customers is frankly outrageous. They have kept them in the dark at every stage and I would respect any airline that canceled their order for the 787. Without customers Boeing has no business so why do they continue to treat them with contempt!

"so why do they continue to treat them with contempt!"

Because the perceive that they have a (mostly) captive audience?

I guess they figure that the airlines want this plane a lot so are prepared to be walked over a bit to get the end result. Of course the risk is that the A350XWB is no longer a distant threat - will airlines switch? Qatar have already said the 787 was to cover them until the XWB came out - how many other airlines have done the same?