The Wall Street Journal has published a news alert stating that sources close to the 787 program have said that the first flight of the 787 may be delayed until June and an official announcement is coming soon.
Developments to follow.
6:33 PM: Asked to comment on reports about the delay, Northwest says, "Boeing has notified Northwest that they will be making an announcement tomorrow." Northwest is deferring all comment until after the announcement is made.
6:13 PM: Sources tell FlightBlogger that airline customers began to be notified about the delay this past weekend.
5:03 PM: James Wallace of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has confirmed the delay according to his sources.
UPDATED, 1 p.m.:
Boeing will announce the latest delay Wednesday morning before the markets open, sources confirm. Boeing will say it will not be able to complete flight tests in order to deliver planes this year. So no 787 deliveries in 2008. It also will say it can't ramp up production fast enough to deliver 109 jets by the end of 2009, my sources say. This development is significant and will have a major impact on the stock price. Boeing shares are already tumbling late this afternoon in response to a story about the latest 787 delay that was just posted by the Wall Street Journal.
Boeing executives will hold a conference call with analysts and media early Wednesday morning to explain the latest delay.
4:46 PM: All indications point to a potential announcement of some sort as early as tomorrow. The WSJ story is the first to directly target the 109 airframe delivery by the end of 2009 with concrete details.
According sources in Charleston, Dreamliner Two is being prepared for delivery by the end of this month. The level of assembly and completion of Dreamliner Two is "farther along than Airplane One" is right now in Everett. This leaves open the question as to whether or not Dreamliner Two will be the first 787 to fly.
4:20 PM: Boeing is telling reporters that the official comment is that, "We are declining comment."
Flight International and Flightblogger are working to confirm.
4:13 PM: IAG Podcast on the potential delay
WSJ Story - Fair Use Excerpt:
Boeing Is Likely to Announce
More Delays for 787 Program
By J. LYNN LUNSFORD and DANIEL MICHAELS
January 15, 2008 2:57 p.m.
Boeing Co., already six months behind schedule on its new 787 Dreamliner jet program, is close to announcing additional delays that could hurt its ability to deliver as many airplanes as promised during the initial year of production.
According to people familiar with the situation, the jet maker continues to experience problems on a variety of fronts. It has faced difficulties in getting the first plane ready to fly, and now the 787 may not make its first flight until June. It also has made slow progress in overcoming parts shortages and other issues at suppliers' factories. An announcement that would include a new time schedule could come as soon as Wednesday.
Further delays would likely make it impossible for Boeing to meet its goal of delivering 109 airplanes by the end of 2009. If that occurs, the company could face millions of dollars in penalty payments to airlines that had been eager to get the planes as soon as possible.
on January 15, 2008 4:31 PM | Reply
Any chance they could rename it the 788 and have another rollout party in July? I'm sure everyone involved will be ready to let off alot of steam by then.
on January 15, 2008 4:58 PM | Reply
Better two years late and "perfect" at EIS like the A380 then rushed and half-arsed with a nightmarish dispatch reliability rate.
Boeing should just stop production at ZA006, finish her and ZA001-ZA005, and fly them around the world for a year on demonstration, route-proving, bug-fixing and certification flights. In the interim, cull Alenia and Vought as suppliers and expand Spirit and the Japanese Heavies to build the parts Alenia and Vought were tasked. Then start a new production schedule aimed at 15 planes a month and start cranking them out.
Have a huge EIS party in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics. The first 15-30 787s can be "group delivered" and then flown North over Vancouver for the Opening Ceremonies, with AC in the lead.
on January 15, 2008 5:49 PM | Reply
What worries me is that the 787 programme is shaping up to be a bigger fiasco than the A380, and the fact that the A380 had circa 150 orders versus over 800 on the 787. Thats going to correlate into enormous compensation payments if Boeing cant get production rates uo, let along get it certified.
on January 15, 2008 5:50 PM | Reply
What worries me is that the 787 programme is shaping up to be a bigger fiasco than the A380, and the fact that the A380 had circa 150 orders versus over 800 on the 787. Thats going to correlate into enormous compensation payments if Boeing cant get production rates up, let alone get it certified.
on January 15, 2008 6:51 PM | Reply
This time, they really have to bite the bullet and throw away the rose coloured specs.
I suggested last time that their credibilty was on the line, and just five weeks after the last call,and two weeks before "power-on", they are going to admit they got it wrong again!
This bird will fly, and fly well, but the financial implications of these delays are going to have a very serious domino effect, particularly if credit lines of suppliers are blocked due to overdue payments.
Cheers
on January 15, 2008 7:19 PM | Reply
In a sense, Spirit is as big of a problem as the other suppliers who have been deemed bad.
Look, Spirit willingly shipped up an empty shell in May 07, with great fanfare, mind you. Where was their ethics then? Could not they have said to Boeing that the 7/8/7 'potemkin' event was suspect?
As well, during the past few years, they could have kept Boeing better informed. That is, being just out of the chute (and heavily tied into Boeing by process, systems, and culture), they could have stepped up to help Boeing understand the 'earned value' issues better.
What was Spirit doing, perhaps? Working an IPO so that a few handfuls of people could line their pockets from the value that Boeing and Boeing employees had built up over the years; counting their spoils with daily enumerations, a-1, a-2, ...; trying to be a world player to fulfill the dream of going beyond Boeing; ...?
If only we could know.
on January 15, 2008 7:30 PM | Reply
17 days left to vote an opinion about power on, first flight, and first delivery dates.
http://7-oops-7.blogspot.com/
on January 15, 2008 7:44 PM | Reply
Would the previous commenter please email me at flightblogger (at) gmail (dot) com.
Thanks,
Jon
on January 15, 2008 10:23 PM | Reply
I'm just a spotter and I'll wait for the 787 just like everyone else, but Wall Street should be very annoyed since 5 weeks ago Boeing lied to the world that the Dreamliner was on time for Q1-2008. Just as they lied in the roll-out party with a fake-assambled-plane.
If I Had invested in Boeing after July-07 party, I'd be very piss-out.
on January 15, 2008 11:10 PM | Reply
This leaves open the question as to whether or not Dreamliner Two will be the first 787 to fly.
sound familiar