Boeing delays 787 deliveries for six months

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2007

NEW YORK (AFP) — Boeing on Wednesday pushed back for six months the first deliveries of its highly touted 787 Dreamliner jet, which now will not reach eager customers until December 2008.

The US aerospace giant, in a dogfight with Europe's Airbus for supremacy in civil aviation, also delayed the first flight of its "green" long-range jet to late March 2008.

"We are disappointed over the schedule changes," said Boeing chief executive officer Jim McNerney.

But the CEO said that despite the delays, "we remain confident in the design of the 787, and in the fundamental innovation and technologies that underpin it."

Up to now, Boeing had been gaining ground with the wildly successful Dreamliner program as its archrival Airbus delayed its new jets coming...