Boeing's 787 Dreamliner delayed again

On July 8, 2007, Boeing officially unveiled its 787 Dreamliner, an event that was largely symbolic, since the date corresponded to the plane's name: 7-8-7. But on Thursday, Boeing said that the plane won't make its first flight until at least the second quarter of 2009.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News)

It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, but on Thursday Boeing announced revised first flight and first delivery dates for its long-awaited and much-anticipated, but also troubled 787 Dreamliner.

The aviation giant said it now expects the first 787 flight during the second quarter of 2009, and the delivery of the first Dreamliner in the first quarter of 2010.

Prior to Thursday's announcement, Boeing had said the first flight would be in the fourth quarter of 2008 and the first delivery in the third quarter of 2009. But even those dates differed from what Boeing had predicted on July 8, 2007 (07/08/07) when it suggested at the roll-out event for the 787 that the first flight would be in August or September of 2007 and the first commercial passengers in May of 2008.

In its announcement, Boeing pinned the blame for the latest 787 delays on a machinists strike that shut the program down from early September to November of this year.

Now, the company says it is trying to figure out how the latest delays will affect its delivery plan, and what the financial impact will be.

But one thing is clear: Boeing needs to get the 787 program on its feet and up in the air, to mix metaphors. Yet, while the program has had its share of delays, there was recently a sign that at the very least, it is a fundamentally sound project: an intended-to-be-secret dossier recently put together by Boeing's archrival Airbus about the 787 Dreamliner seemed to indicate that the program was solid.

"(T)ake a look at the document," wrote aviation blogger Jon Ostrower on Flightblogger. Nowhere does it say that the program isn't going to work or that the plane isn't going to fly. At the end of the day, the report is a vindication of the program."

Now, Boeing just needs to follow through on that promise. The world is watching.

[lmasanti]

"...and the delivery of the first Dreamliner in the first quarter of 2010."

That's a numeric panacea!

First commercial 747 flown on February 1970... 40 years before 2010... then 747+40=787

That's perfect time!

[Commander_Spock]

Well, given the current world financial and economic crises a little more waiting may not be all that bad after all. Just take care and get there safely - Boeing!

[jkeels]

Waiting longer to make sure a product is ready to go is very important. Sometimes there are competitive pressures that force things faster unfortunately. However, in the case of something as safety oriented as an aircraft they cannot take any shortcuts in the design and engineering of this aircraft. Some say that Airbus is more advanced. They do have the A380 which is amazing aircraft. However, Boeing is not stupid. The 787 incorporates the latest technology, electronics, computing and even some materials advancements that were not implemented on the A380. I think its fine to wait another year if it means that the kinks in production, design, engineering, etc are worked out. Now only if Microsoft would learn from this experience.

[timber2005]

"Implement the latest technology...computing... Microsoft would learn from this experience".
Uhh... lets see!

DirectX 10, More efficient ram usuage (no ram unused, filled for cache), FINALLY using hardware rendering for the OS, sending all the graphics tasks to the GPU instead of the CPU, Bluetooth 2.0 support, IPv6...
I'd say that they seem to be doing at least basically well in the usage of new technology area. Maybe they get a B if that would make you happy, but they don't get an F.

[timber2005]

And if you ment Microsoft should wait another year to release a more stable product, well, you should now what Longhorn was and why you aren't using it instead of Vista. 4000 or 5000 builds in and it leaked memory like you wouldn't believe, had features that couldn't be completed on time (poor WinFS). It was thrown to the recycle bin and started FRESH from Server 2003 codebase. Vista was born... about 1000 or so builds later you have what you have today as Vista.

[Commander_Spock]

Wow! And it is thought that this article was about Boeing's 787 plans. Well, Commander_Spock is jumping saying instead that IBM should have stayed the course where the OS/Warp Operating System was concerned because as everyone knows - in it days OS/2 was a far superior Operating System than Microsoft Windows... just take a look at these video clips:

Re: "Around the World with OS/2 - 1 of 2"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlc9EpJB4ag

"Around the World with OS/2 - 2 of 2"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYKK3NpnuF4

Now, at the end of the second video substitute "Chicago" for "Windows Vista"; and, from all appearances Commander_Spock and Crew will get to Piarco aboard one of Boeing's 787 before Vista arrives.

A very nice post "jkeels".

[perontopsp]

@ timber2005

Good God!!! It was a joke, calm down. jkeels comment was just a little poke at microsoft. So just calm down. No need to get your panties in a bunch. It's really immature, just settle down.

[EcuadorHomesOnline]

I just can't believe that with the economic problems the country is having that the machinist unions would vote to strike. It's lunacy - probably the best news that Airbus has had all year.

http://www.halfbakedlunatic.com/post/2008/11/21/Unions-I-really-hate-em.aspx