FLIGHTBLOGGER: Boeing re-examining 787 delivery schedule

Boeing is again reviewing its 787 delivery schedule ahead of a "mountain" of rework required to prepare each aircraft for delivery, likely prompting a new delay to customers once the assessment is completed in the coming weeks.

The airframer continues to target February 2011 for first delivery to All Nippon Airways (ANA), reports Flightglobal affiliate FlightBlogger, though the amount of post-certification rework required on the incomplete airframes could cause delays of weeks to even months, depending on the customer.

Boeing currently has 22 production aircraft as various stages of assembly for 787 launch customer ANA, Japan Airlines, LAN, Royal Air Maroc and Air India.

The report states that issues such as "a flight deck window popping sound discovered during flight test, addressing cabin condensation issues, reworking passenger doors, resolving workmanship issues on the aircraft's horizontal stabiliser and incorporating changes to the Trent 1000 engine, are among the issues that add up to slide the deliveries to the 787's earliest customers well into 2011 or potentially even 2012."

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Source: Flight International