And so Boeing annouce a delay to the 787 “Dreamliner” programme, with first deliveries postponed to Q3 2011.
This is to allow Boeing to “to produce, install and test updated software and new electrical power distribution panels”.
Most of the recent troubles can be pinpointed in a inflight fire incident in November, which has forced Boeing back to the drawing board to develop new parts, panels and software, and to test/fly the birds with this new equipment aboard.
Boeing’s VP and GM of the 787 Project – Scott Fancher – states:
“This revised timeline for first delivery accommodates the work we believe remains to be done to complete testing and certification of the 787,”
“We’ve also restored some margin in the schedule to allow for any additional time that may be needed to complete certification activities,”
No matter how you dress this up, this is clearly an embarrassment to Boeing with yet another delay to their A330/B767/B777-200 “beater”.
The big question will remain: “How will the airlines react?”. Certainly some carriers have patience of angels (ANA in particular). Other carriers such as Qatar may react very poorly to this news.
Keep watching – there are going to be fireworks for this….
