Boeing Reschedules 787 Dreamliner First Flight, Delivery

Boeing has announced an updated schedule for its 787 Dreamliner program, moving the commercial jet's first flight to the second quarter of 2009 and first delivery to the first quarter of 2010. The 787 was to originally make its first flight late in the fourth quarter of 2008 and first delivery was slated for the third quarter of 2009, but the schedule was disrupted by the recent machinists' strike along with the requirement to replace certain fasteners in early production airplanes.

"Our industry team has made progress with structural testing, systems hardware qualification, and production, but we must adjust our schedule for these two unexpected disruptions," said Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Scott Carson.

Preparations for the first flight include finalizing and incorporating remaining engineering changes and completing systems testing, qualifications and certification. Boeing is also evaluating the impact that this delay will have on customer delivery dates, and will provide customers with updated schedules once completed. The company is also determining any financial impact from the schedule change and will incorporate that into updated financial and overall airplane delivery guidance.