Boeing hits turbulence as Dreamliner delayed 6 months

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2007

NEW YORK (AFP) — Boeing ran into turbulence on its highly touted 787 Dreamliner program, announcing a six-month delay for the new jet seen as the future profit driver for the US aviation giant.

Boeing, in a dogfight with Europe's Airbus for supremacy in the civil aviation market, said the first deliveries will not come until December 2008. The first test flights were pushed back to next March.

"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...