Boeing Says Its 787 Is Ready For Take Off

Nightly Business Report ^ | Monday, April 28, 2008

[MHalblaub]

PAUL KANGAS: At its annual meeting in Chicago today, the Boeing Company assured shareholders its hot-selling 787 will take off late next year. The fuel-efficient jet has been plagued with production problems and some analysts think there could be further delays down the road. Diane Eastabrook has more from Chicago.

DIANE EASTABROOK, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Boeing Company Chairman and CEO James McNerny kicked off the company's annual meeting today touting Boeing's recent earnings successes. But McNerney quickly turned his attention to the topic on the minds of most Boeing shareholders: the delayed delivery of the new 787 Dreamliner.

JAMES MCNERNEY, CHAIRMAN & CEO, BOEING CO.: To the degree that the schedule has slipped, the 787 Dreamliner may be a dream deferred, but I do not believe that it will be a dream denied.

EASTABROOK: Boeing began final assembly of its first 787 nearly a year ago. Portions of the lightweight, fuel efficient jet are made by suppliers from around the globe. But production problems with some of those suppliers have pushed back delivery of the first 787 until the end of next year. Boeing originally planned to deliver the first jet this month. The delay of Boeing's hottest selling product ever prompted questions and comments from shareholders.

UNIDENTIIFIED MALE: Why did you have to go to outsource jobs out of this country?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You didn't quite tell us what is our total, possible total exposure to the people, the companies that are buying the 787.

EASTABROOK: McNerny says Boeing is still assessing the financial impact of the delays, but he is confident most of the 787 supplier problems have been corrected.

MCNERREY: They were addressing a number of issues that impact our schedule. I think we've taken those into account. As a matter of fact, that was probably the -- one of the more important assessments we had to make.

EASTABROOK: Still, Morningstar analyst Brian Nelson says the 787 has a long way to go before it is cleared for take off.

BRIAN NELSON, AEROSPACE ANALYST, MORNINGSTAR: Because they haven't yet powered on the aircraft, they haven't performed integrated functional testing of the aircraft, nor have they even done the test flight yet, it's very premature to say that all the problems are behind them because things could still crop up during this development cycle.

EASTABROOK: Despite the delays, airlines have ordered nearly 900 787s so far. Nelson thinks that number could climb to nearly a thousand by next year. Diane Eastabrook, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Chicago.

[MHalblaub]

According to my sources Boeing bought last week two of these:

Ultimate load: 514,000lbs

Delivery by Thursday this week.
787 take-off expected on Friday.

[LIConFem]

Doesn’t look like an airplane to me. Where do they keep the wings?

[headstamp 2]

That is one of those new Russian SUV’s.

[TommyDale]

The delay has been traced back to a slight design flaw, which put both wings on one side.

[BallyBill]

Is that to tow it back to the hangar if it doesn't get off the ground?

[appeal2]

I thought it was the Hummer replacement.

[Yo-Yo]

Does Dreamliner #1 look ready to fly to you?

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/flightblogger/

Photo taken April 25, 2008

[mr_hammer]

Man, that rudder looks unusually small, or is it just me?

[Yo-Yo]

I guess it's just you. Here's the rollout picture from 7-8-07. (That probably added 9 months to the overall 787 schedule, so it was the dumbest publicity stunt of all time.)

[ASA Vet]

Man, that rudder looks unusually small, or is it just me?

A Boeing 797 don't need no stinkin rudder.

[MHalblaub]

We have a lift off!

The plane is a B787 with camouflage.