Boeing customer says 787 will fly by end of 2009

Lots of Boeing 787 news today …

Qatar Airlines’ CEO predicts 787 first flight by year’s end ( Reuters story)

Qatar’s Akbar Al Baker, who has publicly criticized Boeing and its 787 delays, met with Boeing’s Scott Carson last week for an update on the 787 program. Al Baker says the airline will receive its first 4 Dreamliners by the end of 2011. He thinks the 787 will fly by the end of 2009.

British Airways wants to scale back on its Dreamliner payments (Wall Street Journal story). The airline wants to delay its pre-delivery payments on the 787 and other Boeing and Airbus jets.

Dreamliner supplier Crane not so happy about the costs of redesigning the 787’s brakes again (Dow Jones story)

Crane is being asked to redesign the software for Boeing’s 787’s braking system again. But the supplier seeks payment for its work on the yet-to-be delivered Dreamliner.

For more context on the Dreamliner and Crane, see this FlightBlogger post.

I’ve put in a call to Boeing and will update with the company’s response