Berlin - Boeing has warned customers they face a 27-month
delay in deliveries of its new Dreamliner jet, and Airbus has also
told buyers of a fresh hitch in manufacturer of its jumbo A380,
German news reports said Saturday.
Boeing, was reported this week to have begun assembly of the fifth
Dreamliner, a flight-test plane, with the project 15 months late.
But the daily newspaper Die Welt said Saturday the US manufacturer
was in deeper trouble than that with its B787 project.
It said many airlines had been warned in a letter that deliveries
planned after 2012 would be delayed as much as 27 months. Die Welt
said Boeing declined comment with a spokeswoman saying, 'We do not
disclose our discussions with our customers on principle.'
A German weekly magazine, Wirtschaftswoche, was meanwhile set to
report that Airbus was reviewing its delivery timetable for the A380,
a move that often presages postponements. The A380 has been held up
by the complexity of its cabin wiring, customized for each buyer.
As with the Dreamliner, the delays affect the mass-produced
version. Planemakers lose vast sums of money on the hand-built planes
that begin a new series, but recover the investment later when they
can churn out many identical planes as a routine.
Approached for comment by Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, Airbus said
the A380 programme was being reviewed because a key stage in the
jet's manufacture, using new software to manage the wiring work, had
been reached.
This meant that the 26th plane to be made, the first to be have
all its wiring designed by computer, would roll out late, but this
did not mean the 27th would be delayed, and later jets might even be
ahead of schedule.
It was vital to complete the 26th perfectly as a standard for the
rest.
Airbus spokesman Stefan Schaffrath said in Germany he was not
aware of any letter to customers about this.
A French trade union magazine has said number 26, destined for
Australian airline Qantas, would be shipped three months later than
its late 2008 delivery date, Wirtschaftswoche said.
The weekly said the existing plan, last revised in October 2006,
called for 13 jets to be shipped this year and 25 next year.
It quoted an 'insider' saying Airbus would 'nearly' manage the
target for this year but could probably not fulfil next year's.
Die Welt said the graver new delay in the Boeing jet similarly
affected the routine version and was likely to a topic when Boeing
chief financial officer James Bell speaks to analysts on Thursday.
Boeing originally planned the hand-built, first Dreamliner for a
customer to be shipped to All Nippon Airlines of Japan in the present
month, May 2008. Several weeks ago it said the date would be in the
third quarter of 2009.
Die Welt said, 'The first deliveries are likely be on time next
year, but routine production is likely to start must more slowly than
previously planned.' Customers have ordered more than 900 of the jet,
which seats up to 300 passengers.
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