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QANTAS has cancelled orders for 15 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and deferred the delivery of a further 15 aircraft, due to turbulent conditions. The airline said it delayed by four years delivery of 15 Boeing 787-8 aircraft and cancelled orders for 15 787-9 aircraft that were scheduled for delivery in 2014-15. The delay and cancellation in the orders "were appropriate in the current climate, and discussions with Boeing, which commenced some months ago, had not been influenced by the announcement this week of a design issue and further delay to the aircraft's first flight," said Qantas chief executive Officer Alan Joyce......

The structural flaw that has grounded Boeing's 787 Dreamliner will likely add months of delay to the new jet program, an executive with one of Boeing's key Japanese partners said Wednesday. Kiyotaka Ichimaru, an executive at the aerospace division of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), which makes the 787's carbon-fiber composite plastic wings in Japan, also said the problem announced Tuesday stems from Boeing's engineering design, not MHI's — an assessment confirmed by Boeing. Ichimaru said MHI engineers are drawing upon the experience of similar problems on the Mitsubishi F-2 jet-fighter program in working with Boeing to fix the problem: a...

Before the markets opened Tuesday morning, Boeing issued a shock announcement that the first flight of the 787 Dreamliner has been postponed again. The company cited a structural defect prompting "a need to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft." Though Boeing chief executive Scott Carson is quoted in the statement saying that "structural modifications like these are not uncommon in the development of new airplanes," the issue appears serious. Adding to the impact of the delay is uncertainty: Boeing said it will be "several weeks" before it will even come up with a new schedule.

After two years of costly and embarrassing delays, the first flight of Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner is on track for the end of June. When the 787 does lift off, Boeing officials hope it takes the company's stock with it. > “They've still got credibility issues, and there's an awful lot of people with a wait-and-see attitude,” Aboulafia said, adding that key airline customers remain dubious about the 787s weight and performance on the first six airplanes under production. “There are good reasons to be cautious about the 787,'' Aboulafia said. “The problem was they've been overly optimistic in their...

As far back as May of last year, Boeing publicly discussed that the brake control system was a key pacing item for the 787 program. Tracing the evolution of this issue, which Crane and Boeing have stated is resolved, today we find Crane announcing they need to develop a new version of the software, potentially for the 787-9, later blockpoint 787-8s, or even an additional evolution for initial certification. The recipient of the new software is unclear at this point, but it certainly something to be aware of moving forward. ... Crane Co. CEO Eric Fast - February 18, 2009:...

BOEING is inching closer to the long-overdue first flight of its 787....with the successful completion of the "high blow" high-pressure test on the static test airframe... The high blow test is one of three static tests that must be cleared before the first flight.... During the high blow test, air pressure in the airframe was increased to an internal pressure of 150 per cent of the maximum level expected in service: 14.9lb per square inch (1.05kg/cm) gauge. /cut/ "Still, it's very rewarding to see a whole airplane being tested and having the results we expected," he said. /cut/ The static...

WICHITA, Kan. — Almost a year ago in Everett, Boeing's 787 Dreamliner No. 1 rolled out with an impressive exterior but completely empty inside. At the sprawling Spirit AeroSystems plant here Thursday, the cockpit door inside the 42-foot-long front section of Dreamliner No. 4 opened to reveal a finished flight deck. Though it's only the front of the plane, it seemed almost ready for takeoff.

The aging planes of United, American, and Delta guzzle more gas and make the U.S. carriers more vulnerable to soaring oil prices—and to their global competitors For a look at one of the biggest headaches facing U.S. airlines, head out to Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport any day and watch the big jets taking off for the U.S. There goes United Airlines to Chicago, American Airlines to Boston, Delta Air Lines to Atlanta, and Air France to New York's John F. Kennedy airport. What's the big deal? Many of the U.S. carriers' planes are Boeing 767s, a model that dates...

Although The Boeing Co.'s 787 Dreamliner may be only 15 months or so behind schedule, delivery delays will be as much as twice that long for some customers that bought the fuel-efficient composite jet. The extent of the delivery delays, which likely will cost Boeing several billion dollars in penalty payments, became more apparent Thursday when two important 787 customers disclosed just how late their planes will be. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the parent of International Lease Financial Corp., the biggest customer for the 787 with 74 on order, disclosed that its planes will be...

Air Canada will have to wait at least two years longer than originally expected to take delivery of its first 787 Dreamliner, the airline revealed on Thursday. The Boeing Co. has told Air Canada that it will deliver the first of the 37 aircraft it has on order at least 24 to 30 months later than the carrier had previously expected, at the earliest in January 2012. Air Canada will be seeking compensation from Boeing for the delays, Montie Brewer, Air Canada chief executive, told a conference call on Thursday. In April, Boeing announced that the first deliveries of the...

FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - Boeing Co. faces further delays in the delivery of its B787 Dreamliner because it is unlikely to get clearance from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on time, German weekly Focus reported, citing sources at the FAA. The so-called 'Type Certification' will not be granted before the end of 2009, possibly early 2010, and not in the third quarter of 2009 as initially projected, delaying delivery to the first customer All Nippon Airways. Boeing (nyse: BA - news - people ) plans to publish the new schedule next month, the magazine said in an excerpt of an...

QANTAS directors will be asked today to sign off on a $200 million deal, paid for with compensation from Boeing, to lease a fleet of jetliners built by Airbus Jetstar, the Australian flag carrier's budget brand, will ask the Qantas board to sign off on a lease deal for up to six French-built A330 jetliners. [...] Yesterday Qantas sources said only that the amount will be well in excess of the $200 million Airbus paid after it pushed back by two years the delivery to Qantas and other airlines of its first A380 super jumbo because of wiring problems. [...]...

Boeing suggests 767-300ERs to help solve the 787 capacity gap Boeing has yet to tell 787 customers exactly how their delivery schedules will be impacted by the latest delay, but it has floated the idea of producing brand new 767-300ERs to help fill the capacity gap. Dreamliner deliveries will not now begin until the third quarter of next year - at least six months later than planned - and production ramp-up will then be much slower than previously expected with output not due to reach 10 a month until 2012. This will have a major impact on widebody capacity growth...

WELLINGTON/TOKYO (Reuters) - Airlines lined up on Thursday for compensation after Boeing Co announced a further six-month delay for its new 787 Dreamliner plane, with Air New Zealand, Air India and Japan's two big carriers eyeing redress. The U.S. plane maker announced the third major delay for the revolutionary plane on Wednesday, promising first delivery in the third quarter of 2009, more than a year after the original target of May this year -- with an indefinite delay for a short-range model favoured by the Japanese carriers. Air New Zealand and Air India AI.UL said they would seek compensation. All...

CHICAGO (AP) — The Boeing Co. has announced another delay involving its 787 jetliner, pushing back its expected debut in commercial service to the third quarter of 2009. It's the fourth time Boeing has had to revise the schedule for the top-selling plane, which has been plagued by supply-chain problems. The latest setback had been expected by analysts as well as customers of the aircraft. It further undermines the company's credibility after failing to deliver on its previous three scheduled plans for the 787. Boeing says the plane's first flight now won't take place until the fourth quarter of this...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Industry insiders and Wall Street analysts are expecting further delays on Boeing Co's (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) new 787 Dreamliner, as the U.S. plane maker grapples with last-minute design changes and production problems. Most now point to the second half of 2009 as the likely start of deliveries of the lightweight plane, at least six months later than Boeing's current target and about 15 months beyond the original schedule. The latest problem involves redesigning the plane's crucial center wing box, according to Steven Udvar-Hazy, chief executive of International Lease Finance Corp, which is the biggest...

The largest customer for Boeing's 787 is predicting another six-month slip in deliveries and has for the first time raised the specter that the new passenger jet's troubles extend beyond production delays to design problems. International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC) Chairman Steven Udvar-Hazy told a JPMorgan investor conference that structural design changes have to be made to the 787's center wing box, a move that would require retrofits of the first two flight-test airplanes that are being produced. Calling the state of the program "not pretty," Udvar-Hazy said he doesn't see the 787 making its first flight until this fall...

NEW YORK, March 7 (Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) probably won't deliver its first 787 Dreamliner until July next year at the earliest, a Goldman Sachs analyst said on Friday, potentially adding another six-month delay onto the troubled program, which is already nine months behind schedule. Airlines are still enthusiastic about Boeing's new carbon-composite plane, which promises to cut fuel costs by 20 percent, but some are starting to show impatience with slow progress on the aircraft, which was originally set to enter service in May this year. "We now think deliveries will start in the third...

Last month, technology news sites and blogs breathlessly reported on a Federal Aviation Administration document suggesting that Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner passenger jet may be vulnerable to computer hackers. Boeing now says that the problem was fixed even before the FAA issued its warning. But there may be yet another way bad guys could get into the plane's control system, one that neither the company nor the FAA may have noticed. The FAA was specifically concerned that a passenger could use the on-board entertainment network, which personal laptops can plug into, to access the plane's navigation system and disable or...

MUMBAI: US aircraft manufacturer Boeing on Wednesday said it would compensate Air India for the delay in the delivery of Dreamliner 787 aircraft to the Indian carrier. "We will compensate Air India for the delay in the delivery of Dreamliners," Boeing Senior Vice-President Dinesh Keskar told reporters on the sidelines of an aviation summit. In 2005, the national carrier had placed orders with Boeing for 68 aircraft costing $11.6 billion. Of the 68 aircraft, 27 are Dreamliners. The first Dreamliner was scheduled to be delivered by end-this year, but the deliveries are now expected to be delayed. "There have been...