Boeing, which already has delayed its new 787 Dreamliner 14 months, announced Tuesday it will know "soon" whether a supplier's damaged part on the fourth of six test planes will affect the program, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday.The mid-body fuselage section built by Global Aeronautica LLC, a venture with Alenia North America, was damaged "by an Alenia employee not following proper work procedures" in Charleston, S.C., Boeing said, Bloomberg News reported. Boeing said it resolved the issue, but it is currently evaluating the error's impact on the plane's timetable.
Boeing's shares (NYSE: BA) fell 52 cents to $65.20 on the news in Tuesday morning trading.
Stock analyst C. Leonard Bauer said he's "not going to think the worst" regarding a possible timetable change, until Boeing knows definitively if it will affect production and roll-out.
Another delay would hurt Boeing
"Right now, it's a negative datapoint, but if there is no delay, there will be not nearly as significant consequences for the plane and the company as another production delay." Bauer said. "But obviously there can be no more delays with the 787. It would hurt Boeing."
Bauer said Boeing has already delayed delivery of the 787 Dreamliner three times since October 2007 due to parts shortages and wing changes. Another delay "could prompt some carriers to delay their purchase of the 787 or switch to other planes." Bauer added that he does not have a rating on nor own shares in Boeing.
When launched, the 787 will become the most fuel-efficient, creature-comfort-filled, advanced commercial jetliner, Bauer said. The 787 is part of Boeing's enhanced point-to-point strategy versus rival European Union-based Airbus, which conversely argues that superjumbo airplane travel will be the dominant flight in the next decade.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-01-2008 @ 6:06PM
gerald vaughn said...
This article goes back to my earlier blog about the tanker contract the the lack of any quality leadership at Boeing. I stated in my earlier blog that why should Boeing get the tanker contract when almost every project they have built in recent memory has been overf budget and delivered past deadlines. Our troops deserve a product that is not flawed and on time and budget. I promise you that will not happen if Boeing gets their incompetient hands on the tanker project. I have no family or friends who work for either contractor who wants to build the tanker, I'm just stating the facts about Boeing as I have seen them over the past decade with respect to Boeings incompetance. Boeing reminds me of Nasa another broke management style that cost tax payers way more than it is worth. Until they make products that meet contract deadlines and beat cost expectations let someone else give it a try. 50,000 workers are expected to assemble the Northrop Gruman tanker right here in the U. S. so I don't want to here a foreign company shouldn't get the contract. Northrop Grumman has been making ships in the U.S. for quite a while and been doing a fine job from what I have seen.