MUNI THE BOSS

Boeing has told several of its early 787 customers about delivery delays that go up to 10 months, industry sources tell AVIATION WEEK.

According to people familiar with the situation, Korean Air is so far the airline that is hardest hit: Korean will get its first 787 in August 2012, 10 months later than according to the previous plans.

Air India is now believed to receive its first 787 in September or October 2011 instead of April, a delay of about five months. Japan Airlines will take delivery of its first new jet in June 2011 at the earliest. That compares to a previous March delivery date.

None of the airlines was available for comment. However, JAL Chief Operating Officer Mararu Onishi is reported to have confirmed the information. Boeing said it does not comment on customer delivery timing.

Boeing has been insisting that it is sticking to its current plan to deliver the first 787 to All Nippon Airways (ANA) toward the middle of the first quarter 2011. However, several industry sources claim that may no longer be possible as Boeing is battling with a host of issues and late design changes that will have to be incorporated into new production aircraft, as well as the 22 787s that are currently completed and parked at Paine Field in Everett, Wash.

The sources also believe that Boeing will be struggling to ramp up production quickly because of the ongoing process of constant changes and continuing out-of-sequence work. Boeing has so far refused to say how many 787s it plans to deliver next year.

The delays of up to 10 months for later aircraft indicate that while Boeing may succeed in delivering the first 787 to ANA with less additional delay than that or even around the anticipated mid-February date, slower-than-planned production ramp-up could spread out deliveries over a significantly longer period than previously envisaged. Because of numerous production and supplier issues, the program is already