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Boeing to push back 787 first flight, deliveries

by Grant Martin (RSS feed) on Nov 5th 2008 at 10:15AM

It was hard to imagine that Boeing could keep on schedule for 787 deliveries with the strike at large among machinists, but yesterday they made the news official: first flight and deliveries are definitely pushed back.

Originally scheduled for 2008, the first flight of Boeing's Dreamliner has been repeatedly delayed, most recently to Q4 of 2008 and now into 2009. During that time, several PR specialists have cycled through the media chair at Boeing, but the most recent word from Yvonne Leach, courtesy of Saj at Fleetbuzzeditorial, states that:

"Given the duration of the IAM work stoppage, first flight of the 787 Dreamliner will not be accomplished in the fourth quarter of 2008. The timeframe for first flight has not been established and will be based on the strike recovery assessment. The program is working to determine a new program schedule that will be announced when it is finalized."

In addition to the obvious delays caused by the strike, the airframe manufacturer also announced that several non-conformities in the fasteners for the 787 contributed to the setback.

So when do we get to fly in a Dreamliner? Official word is now that deliveries won't even begin until 2010. Don't worry -- it'll be here before you know it.

Filed under: Business, Airlines, News