Boeing is still aiming to deliver its B787 Dreamliner to Chinese
airlines on time before the 2008 Summer Olympic Games despite
delays in the aircraft's first flight, the US aerospace group said
yesterday.
"There is no change in our delivery schedule and the five
Chinese airlines will receive their first B787 before the Olympic
Games," said an official, who declined to be named, from Boeing
China's communications department.
Boeing has received 60 orders from five Chinese airlines - Air
China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan
Airlines and Shanghai Airlines.
The first flight of the B787 will be delayed by two more months
as Boeing struggles to overcome problems in final assembly and
completing the flight control software, the Seattle-based company
said last Thursday.
The B787's maiden flight was originally planned for August and
was postponed to late September. But now it has been delayed to
between mid-November and mid-December, said Mike Bair, Boeing
vice-president and general manager of the B787 program.
But despite the setback, Boeing aims to deliver the first of the
new long-haul jets to Japan's All Nippon Airways on time next May,
Bair said.
Boeing previously said the bulk of the subsequent deliveries for
several months would all go to Chinese airlines.
If Boeing is to meet that target, the delays in the first flight
mean the certification trials would have to be finished in about
five months.
It usually takes one to two years for a new aircraft to complete
certification trials before entering commercial service. Airbus
spent a year and a half completing the flight test campaign of its
latest model, the A380.
"We haven't got any information regarding delays in the delivery
of our first B787," said Rao Xinyu, board secretary of Air China
Ltd. The nation's flagship carrier has ordered 15 B787 jets.
Air China is scheduled to receive two B787 jets next year, with
one delivered next June, Rao said. The aircraft will most likely be
used on the airline's routes to Europe or the US, Rao added.
A major problem delaying the B787's first flight is the amount
of unfinished structural work passed on to the Boeing final
assembly plant at Everet, near Seattle, from suppliers with
incomplete documentation, the Financial Times has reported.
(China Daily September 11 2007)
