787 customer predicts delays
Published 9:48 pm Wednesday, March 19, 2008
It’s one step forward, two steps back for the Boeing Co.
Yesterday, Boeing got a vote of confidence from investors with a $1.04 nudge upward in its stock after making public part of its protest against the Air Force for awarding a $35 billion tanker deal to Northrop Grumman-EADS. Boeing even managed to win over local analyst, Scott Hamilton, who initially didn’t think the company had a case for protest. Hamilton now argues that Boeing should aggressively pursue its protest.
But Boeing already has lost yesterday’s gains this morning after its largest 787 customer predicted the company won’t deliver the first Dreamliner until September 2009.
ILFC’s Steven Udvar-Hazy said that changes to the 787’s wing box will push out the Dreamliner’s first flight until fall. Udvar-Hazy made the remarks yesterday at a JP Morgan conference. He suggested that Boeing will need until September of next year to obtain FAA certification for its new jet.
Boeing already delayed the first delivery of its fast-selling Dreamliner from May 2008 to early 2009. The company confirmed the latest delay in January but declined to give a new delivery schedule until the end of the first quarter.
