Boeing Pushes Back 787 Delivery Again
Delivery Has Been Put Off Since May 2008
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago-based Boeing pushed back deliveries of its new 787 again on Tuesday, and now says it won't deliver the aircraft until July at the earliest.
Even before the fire, however, production problems have led to repeated disruptions for jet, which made its first flight in December 2009.
The company had most recently said that deliveries would begin next month, nearly three years late, but an electrical fire on a plane in November halted flight testing and another delay has been widely anticipated.
Boeing said it expects to deliver the plane during the third quarter, which would be between July and the end of September. The new schedule has been padded in the event that anything else goes wrong, the company said.
The original target delivery date for the plane was in May 2008.
Boeing gradually resumed flight testing in December after making an interim software fix to address the Nov. 9 fire that forced an emergency landing in Laredo, Texas, but those tests are not for the mandatory Federal Aviation Administration certification.
Boeing says the new release date will allow enough time to make and test software updates, and new power distribution panels, Crain's reported.
The company said it will provide more information on its financial forecast and deliveries during its earnings conference call on Jan. 26. The revised delivery date is not expected to have a material impact on Boeing's financial results for 2010, the company said.
Shares of Boeing Co. rose 2.1 percent to $71.53 in the first half-hour of trading Tuesday, Crain's Chicago Business reported.
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