Airlines face further delays to the delivery of the new generation Boeing 787 Dreamliner after Boeing cancelled the first flight by the aircraft.
The first take off by the 787 due at the end of this month was postponed due to a need to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft.
The aircraft is already two years late being delivered to airlines. The first was due to enter service in 2010 prior to this latest setback.
“Preliminary analysis indicated that flight test could proceed this month as planned. However, after further testing and consideration of possible modified flight test plans, the decision was made late last week that first flight should instead be postponed until productive flight testing could occur,” the manufacturer said.
“First flight and first delivery will be rescheduled following the final determination of the required modification and testing plan.
“It will be several weeks before the new schedule is available.”
Scott Carson, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said a team of experts has already identified several potential solutions.
"Consideration was given to a temporary solution that would allow us to fly as scheduled, but we ultimately concluded that the right thing was to develop, design, test and incorporate a permanent modification to the localized area requiring reinforcement,” he said.
“Structural modifications like these are not uncommon in the development of new airplanes, and this is not an issue related to our choice of materials or the assembly and installation work of our team."
Boeing will continue with other aspects of testing the first 787, including low-speed taxiing. Work will also continue on the other five flight test aircraft and subsequent aircraft in the production system.
by Phil Davies
