Cites "Out-Of-Sequence Production Work" Caused By Parts Shortages

What a difference a few days can make. About 48 hours after Boeing Commercial Airplanes VP Randy Tinseth asserted it was still the planemaker's "objective" to meet its schedule for first delivery of a 787 Dreamliner in May 2008... the planemaker announced it will delay the entire delivery schedule of the 787 by six months.

The company cites "out-of-sequence production work, including parts shortages, and remaining software and systems integration activities" in a release to ANN.

"We are disappointed over the schedule changes that we are announcing today," said Boeing Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney. "Notwithstanding the challenges that we are experiencing in bringing forward this game-changing product, we remain confident in the design of the 787, and in the fundamental innovation and technologies that underpin it."

The announcement also impacts the first flight of the 787 -- originally scheduled for August, then sometime by mid-December... and now, Boeing says, that flight may not occur until the end of March 2008.

After months of boldly predicting its 787 would fly on-schedule -- despite mounting evidence to the contrary -- Boeing adopted a decidedly contrite tone in Wednesday's announcement... saying it "acknowledged increasing risk to the delivery schedule, indicating that the margin to accommodate unexpected issues had been eliminated.

"The newly revised schedule for first flight and first delivery addresses the production challenges and restores margin for the program to deal with issues that may be uncovered in final ground or flight testing," the company added.

"While we have made some progress over the past several weeks completing work on our early production airplanes and improving parts availability across the production system, the pace of that progress has not been sufficient to support our previous plans for first delivery or first flight," said Scott Carson, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "We deeply regret the impact these delays will have on our customers, and we are committed to working with them to minimize any disruption to their plans.

"The most important commitment we've made to our customers is to deliver an airplane that performs to their expectations over the long life of the program. These changes to our schedule will help ensure we do just that," Carson added.

Shares in Boeing immediately fell off by two percent on the news of the Dreamliner delay.

FMI: www.boeing.com