The trend of delays in the delivery of satellites, which caused scheduling difficulties for commercial launch companies last year, continues to frustrate Arianespace.
The first Ariane 5 commercial mission - flight V-119/504 - will not be launched until at least late July because the AsiaStar prime satellite payload is not ready.
The delay will also affect the secondary satellite, Telkom 1. The flight was originally planned for April.
With the Ariane 5 pad due to close for the next few months to install equipment to handle the cryogenic loading of the vehicle's new planned upper stage, the delay could be even longer.
In addition, the next Ariane 4 flight - V118 - has slipped from late April to the end of May, with the NewSkies customer saying it needs more time to test the spacecraft's solar panels.
The delays mean that Arianespace will find it difficult to reach its target of 11 launches this year. The second and third Ariane 5 commercial flights are unlikely to meet their deadlines of late summer and autumn.
Arianespace says that it will "just have to adapt the launch schedule with that of its clients who do not necessarily respect their contracted delivery dates".
The French company said earlier this year that it proposes to introduce a "first in, first out" service, in which companies which are late in delivering their satellites will be pushed down the queue and replaced by the next booked customer to arrive at the Kourou launch site.
Source: Flight International