Boeing Co says it has changed the design of a key part of its new 787 jetliner, but the company has not addressed rumors that the fix would contribute to further delays in the plane's first flight.
"It is a normal part of the development of a new airplane to discover need for improvements, and that is what we are experiencing on the 787," Boeing spokeswoman Yvonne Leach said in a statement issued on Thursday.
Earlier in the week, Steven Udvar-Hazy, chairman of International Lease Finance Corp, one of Boeing's largest customers, said changes to the plane's center wing box could push back Boeing's 787 timeline.
The center wing box connects the jetliner's wing to the fuselage and holds fuel. At the time, Leach did not specifically address what parts Boeing might be tweaking, but on Thursday she said the issue with the center wing box had been addressed and that planes already on the assembly line would be fixed.
Udvar-Hazy, whose company has ordered 74 of the planes, predicted the 787's first flight won't occur until the fall and that the first delivery would be postponed to the end of the third quarter of next year.
Boeing has not issued any updates on the 787's timing since January this year, when it announced the third major delay in the 787 program.
The company pushed plans to send the jetliner on its first flight to the end of June, and to deliver the first plane to All Nippon Airways early next year.
The Chicago-based company is currently reviewing that schedule, and industry watchers expect that Boeing will announce a fourth delay later this month or early next month.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
PREPARATION: Ferry lines and flights were canceled ahead of only the second storm to hit the nation in November, while many areas canceled classes and work Authorities yesterday evacuated more than 3,000 people ahead of approaching Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which is expected to make landfall between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County this evening. Fung-wong was yesterday morning downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it approached the nation’s southwest coast, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, as it issued a land alert for the storm. The alert applies to residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春). As of press time last night, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties, as well as Chiayi city and county had
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued a sea alert for Typhoon Fung-wong (鳳凰) as it threatened vessels operating in waters off the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島), the Bashi Channel and south of the Taiwan Strait. A land alert is expected to be announced some time between late last night and early this morning, the CWA said. As of press time last night, Taoyuan, as well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties had declared today a typhoon day, canceling work and classes. Except for a few select districts in Taipei and New Taipei City, all other areas and city
VIOLATION OF NORMS: China’s CCTV broadcast claimed that Beijing could use Interpol to issue arrest warrants, which the MAC slammed as an affront to order The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for attempts to intimidate Taiwanese through “transnational repression.” The council issued the remarks after state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) yesterday during a news broadcast aired a video targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋), threatening him with “cross-border repression” and saying: “Stop now, or you will be next,” in what Taipei officials said was an attempt to intimidate not only Shen, but also the broader Taiwanese public. The MAC in a statement condemned the threat, accusing Beijing of trying to instill fear and self-censorship among Taiwanese and
RSS