The first delivery of Boeing’s new 787 jetliner may slip into early next year because of inspections and instrument changes on the flight test aircraft, the head of the program said on Thursday.
Scott Fancher, general manager of the program for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, told reporters that Boeing still intends to deliver its first 787 to Japan’s ANA by the end of the year. He said that “as a cautionary note,” Boeing is warning that the delivery might be extended a few weeks into next year.
If so, it would be another in a long series of delays on the 787 program, many due to problems with components built by suppliers around the globe that ship huge sections of the plane to be assembled at Boeing’s Everett, Washington, plant. Boeing, which has orders for 863 of the jets, originally planned to deliver the first 787 in 2008.
Fancher said the planned changes in data-gathering instrumentation on the flight test planes took longer than expected.
That and the need for additional inspections “stacked up” and reduced the time margin built into the testing schedule. He said Boeing has a “laser focus” on completing the tests and getting the first plane delivered in December.
Boeing has not specified when it expected the 787 testing program to end. While it aims for the first deliveries at the end of the year, testing on some components will continue beyond that.
“We’re constantly in communication with our customers on where we are in flight tests and being as transparent as we can,” Fancher said.
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