Boeing 787: First flight could come Dec. 15
Boeing Co. scheduled the 787 Dreamliner's maiden flight for next week after more than two years of delays, aiming to fulfill an August promise to fly the plane by the end of 2009.
The plastic-composites jet will fly as early as Dec. 15, Boeing said in an e-mail yesterday. The date depends upon final internal reviews, a taxi test, receiving an approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, and weather. The world's second-largest commercial-plane maker expects to begin shipping the jet to customers in late 2010.
The flight moves Boeing one step closer to delivering the 787, its fastest-selling model, with 840 orders valued at about $150 billion at list prices. The delays have contributed to an almost 50 percent decline in Boeing's shares since the first setback was announced in October 2007.
"For Boeing to finally get the 787 into the air is a step in the right direction for the program, following a catalogue of errors and disappointments," Rob Stallard, a New York-based analyst at Macquarie Capital Inc., said today in a note. "Boeing has of course many, many things still to do on the program before first delivery, and we cannot rule out further slippage in the target delivery date of the fourth quarter of 2010."
Airbus Gains
Rival Airbus SAS has gained sales ground amid the delays, with 505 orders for its competing A350 model airplane, which will now enter service three years behind the 250-seat Dreamliner.
The 787 was originally supposed to fly in August 2007 and be delivered to customers in May 2008, starting with Japan's All Nippon Airways.
The plane's most recent setback occurred in June, just days before it had been set to fly, after engineers discovered that some composite layers where the wing joins the body had separated in ground tests. The 787 is the first airliner being built with mostly composite plastics, rather than aluminum, to save on fuel consumption. Boeing has blamed disruptions in development on parts shortages, defects, redesigns and problems with suppliers not completing all their work.
The company has continued some testing and production work while engineers strengthened sections of the planes' fuselages. There are now 14 Dreamliners -- including six test jets -- in various stages of production at the company's wide-body factory in Everett, Washington, just north of Seattle.
'Late Before'
"It doesn't mean the first delivery will be right on time, but there's no reason to believe it won't just because they've been late before," said Joseph Campbell, an analyst with Barclay's Plc in New York.
The Dreamliner will take off from a strip next to the Everett factory where it was built and fly to Boeing Field in south Seattle, where it will be based during about nine months of testing for certification.
"Our policy calls for good visibility, no standing water on the runway and gentle or no winds," said Yvonne Leach, a Boeing spokeswoman.
Boeing rose 47 cents to $55.48 at 10:21 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The Chicago-based company's shares fell 46 percent from the 787's first delay through yesterday, more than the 29 percent decline in the S&P 500 Aerospace and Defense Index.