Everett: Boeing announced a revised plan for first flight and initial deliveries of the 787 Dreamliner including additional time in the schedule to reduce risk of further delays on the programme.

It said while significant progress had been made assembling Airplane #1, first flight was being rescheduled owing to a number of reasons, such as slower than expected completion of work travelling from supplier facilities into Boeing's final assembly line, unanticipated re-work, and the addition of margin into the testing schedule.

The new delivery schedule, it said, is based on a more conservative production plan worked out in tandem with its 787 production team. Under the new production plan Boeing will undertake to make 25 deliveries of the aircraft in 2009.

First flight
Boeing said that first flight of the 787 Dreamliner was now being positioned for the fourth quarter of 2008, against the end of the second quarter earlier. Consequently, first commercial delivery was now slated for the third quarter of 2009, instead of the first quarter.

Meanwhile, senior Boeing officials expressed confidence in the new plan. "Over the past few months, we have taken strong actions to confront and overcome start-up issues on the programme, and we have made solid progress," said Boeing Commercial Airplanes president, and CEO, Scott Carson.

"Nevertheless, the traveled work situation and some unanticipated rework have prevented us from hitting the milestones we laid out in January. Our revised schedule is built upon an achievable, high-confidence plan for getting us to our power-on and first-flight milestones. Also, while the fundamental technologies and design of the 787 remain sound, we have inserted some additional schedule margin for dealing with other issues we may uncover in testing prior to first flight and in the flight test program."

"We deeply regret the disruption and disappointment these changes will cause for our customers, and we will work closely with each of them to minimize the impact," said Carson.

"We have taken significant action to improve supply chain and production system performance, such as our investment in Global Aeronautica, but based on our assessment, the prudent course is to proceed with a more gradual ramp up to full-rate production."

Pat Shanahan, 787 vice president and programme manager, echoed Carson's sentiments. "The work that remains to be done on Airplane #1 is well defined, and we can see our way to -- and have confidence in -- the new milestones we have set for it," said Shanahan.

"We have addressed the major challenges that slowed our progress while trying to complete the primary structure -- the parts shortages, engineering changes, and manufacturing changes -- and we are well into the systems installation that is the precursor to putting power on the airplane for the first time. We have also worked closely with our partners to achieve higher levels of completion of their parts of subsequent airplanes, and we will continue to drive improvements in the supply chain and production system performance," he said.

Significantly, for tracking programme progress, Shanahan outlined a series of milestones that will occur before 30 June: 787 static and fatigue structural test airplanes will move to their testing locations; Airplanes #3 and #4 will enter final assembly; hardware airworthiness qualifications will be complete; and power-on will be achieved.

The newly re-worked production schedule has also changed the timing of the introduction of two 787 derivatives. The 787-9, a larger variant of the airplane, will be the first derivative, with delivery planned for early 2012. The 787-3, a shorter-range model previously slated for delivery in 2010, will now become the second derivative of the airplane family.

Boeing also said that it expected no change to 2008 earnings guidance. It also said it continues to expect strong earnings per share growth in 2009 and will provide complete 2009 financial guidance when it holds its first-quarter 2008 earnings conference call later this month.