The Seattle Post Intelligencer aviation reporter, James Wallace, is now reporting the possibility that Boeing’s new 787 may not make its first flight until February or March of 2009.  Citing the 57 day long strike just settled by Boeing, the program is now supposed to be under review.  At the beginning of the strike, Boeing’s 787 program manager had stated that it would be a day for day slip until first flight. 

However, late February or early March is not a day for day slip and I think this news begins to reveal that there are indeed other problems on finalizing the 787 for its first flight.  The 787 is now more than a year past its original forecast for first flight and had been definitively scheduled for a 4th quarter first flight this year.  Prior to the strike, that was expected to be some time in the middle of November, 2008. 

The delays to the program really should come as no surprise since this aircraft involves far more innovative engineering than probably any other commercial aircraft designed in the past 40 years including the 747 and A380.    Still, another schedule slip after re-defining the program schedule and including plenty of time for more unanticipated problems begins to reveal that this is in fact a program in trouble.   At this point, it is safe to say that Boeing is likely to experience a great deal of trouble getting the production ramped up to meet demand. 

Filed under: Airline News by ajax