Boeing's next-generation aircraft, the 787 Dreamliner, will not be delivered until 2009, as frustrated Japanese carriers sifts through the potential business impact of the extended wait.
The latest delay, by about three months, comes as airlines around the world step up efforts to modernize their fleets to boost fuel and operating efficiencies as they absorb rocketing fuel prices in an industry rattled by intense competition. That has heaped pressure on jet makers to come up with advanced aircraft that combine the best in engine performance with environmentally friendly technology.
A spokesman for ANA, Japan's second largest airline in terms of revenue, described the delay as deeply regrettable. The spokesman said ANA was only formally informed overnight that the airline will have to wait until early 2009 for the aircraft.
The airline will re-examine the impact of another postponement, the spokesman said.
The delay comes just three months after ANA was told delivery would be delayed until late November or December 2008 from May.
With some 50 B787s on order, ANA is scheduled to be the first among global airlines to receive Boeing's new passenger jet, which is expected to be more efficient to fuel and fly than existing aircraft.
A spokeswoman at Japan Airlines said the airline is still looking into the delivery schedule with Boeing. JAL said it will make efforts to absorb delivery delays by adjusting its fleet.
JAL has 35 orders for the B787 aircraft, with an option to buy 20 additional airplanes.
Higher fuel prices have taken a toll on both ANA and JAL. ANA said it will hike domestic airfares by an average of 2.6 percent starting April to reflect the greater fuel cost burden.
The Dreamliner is crucial to ANA's strategy going forward. It plans to operate only one type of aircraft each in its fleets of large, mid-size and small jets - the B787 is to be its mid-size plane.
Boeing said it will move the first test flight of its 787 Dreamliner jet program, already six months behind schedule, to the end of the second quarter and said the first aircraft delivery now won't happen until 2009.
The Chicago-based company, which said it was too early for a definitive financial assessment of the delay on Boeing itself or its suppliers, is locked in a battle for global aircraft manufacturing supremacy with Franco-German jet maker European Aeronautic Defence & Space's Airbus unit.
The news of the Dreamliner delay came as Airbus said it delivered a record 453 aircraft last year, more than Boeing, although it fell behind its US rival in terms of new orders. Boeing recorded 441 deliveries during 2007.
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