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Customers of the much-anticipated but late-to-the-gate 787 Dreamliner are waiting for Boeing to make official what they strongly suspect—that delivery of the first plane will be delayed into the second half of 2009 or beyond.
Deliveries of the Dreamliner are already 10 months behind schedule and glitches along Boeing's complex global supply chain slowed production and forced the company to redesign its wing box. Asked on Apr. 3 about the possibility of yet another delay, Boeing (BA) spokeswoman Yvonne Leach simply acknowledged that an announcement of a revised schedule is coming soon.
Customers for the advanced-technology plane, which will be the first commercial jet to make extensive use of lightweight carbon-fiber technology, are growing restive. Several say they may seek financial compensation and replacement aircraft. Virgin Atlantic Airways, one of the largest European customers with 15 planes on order, said it was opening talks with Chicago-based Boeing. Qantas Airways (QAN), with 65 planes on order, and International Lease Finance (ILFC), an aircraft-leasing outfit that is the biggest buyer of the new plane with 74 planes on order, have also begun compensation talks.
Payments to compensate customers, along with additional support for suppliers that will need to keep engineers on staff longer than expected, could lead Boeing to a large write-off at some point, says Cai von Rumohr, an aerospace analyst at Cowen & Co. He doubts Boeing has quantified the losses, but notes they will grow particularly steep if the delays extend to more than a year. Boeing's Leach declined comment on that.
Von Rumohr expects the first delivery in the third or fourth quarter of 2009. That would extend first deliveries to 18 months beyond the original schedule. While Boeing had projected deliveries of 109 planes next year, a more realistic expectation is anywhere between 20 and 50. "Boeing has egg on its face," von Rumohr says.
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I think that with this delay in delivery problems that are bringing a lot of customer's dissatisfaction is very bad for the company that is losing a lot of them as said before. Costumers are already looking for compensations, some of them are already leaving and looking for replacement. Besides the problem with compensation to their customers, the company has another problem which is their suppliers who have to keep working and get paid. I think that Boeing is passing through a serious problem because they are losing their value, their customers, and also money. I think that these problems are still going to affect their future business if they don't find a way to restore their trust and value with customers.
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