Aircraft damage could lead to further delay in 787 programme

Chicago: Boeing, already facing a delay of at least 14 months on its new 787 Dreamliner aircraft, said it will know "soon" whether a supplier's damage to the fourth of six test planes will have an effect on the full programme.

The midbody fuselage section built by Global Aeronautica, a venture with Finmeccanica SpA's Alenia North America, was damaged "by an Alenia employee not following proper work procedures", Boeing spokeswoman Yvonne Leach said.

"We resolved it, but we have to look at the schedule and what that means" for the fourth plane as well as the programme's timetable, Leach said.

The part has not yet been shipped to Everett, Washington, where Boeing is doing the final-assembly work, she said, adding that "when we get the section, we'll know better about the overall impact".

Boeing, based in Chicago, has lost 32 per cent of its market value in a year in part as it pushed back deliveries of the 787 three times because of vendor delays, parts shortages and changes to the wing section. June brought the biggest monthly decline in Boeing shares since the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington in September 2001.

Boeing declined earlier yesterday before rising for the first time in eight trading days. The shares gained 29 cents to $66.01 at 10:50 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

Boeing said last month the 787 was holding to its revised schedule after tests of the power systems were completed June 20. The 787 is due to take its initial flight in the fourth quarter, with delivery to the first customer in next year's third quarter.

Important part

The fourth plane "is an important part of the test flight process" because of its intended role with the engine testing and the incident may stretch the flight tests out by a month, Bank of America analyst Harry Nourse wrote in a note today. The plane needs "a large number of cycles and flight hours" to gain US Federal Aviation Administration approval, he wrote.

"We will know more soon" about any effect on the timetable, Boeing's Leach said.

The 787 is the first commercial aircraft to be made mostly of carbon-composite material, requiring a different manufacturing process than traditional aluminum planes. Boeing commissioned suppliers in the US, Japan and Italy to make completed sections that are then shipped to Everett to be snapped together and have the wings and wheels attached.

Boeing's Leach declined to describe the damage. An aviation- industry Web site that has previously reported on 787 delays, Flightglobal.com's Flightblogger, said that incorrect fasteners were used in some holes, damaging the composite structure.