Boeing 787 Dreamliner test flight put off yet again

Boeing Company, the aerospace giant based in Chicago, the United States, has once again delayed the test flight of its long-awaited Boeing 787 jet, nicknamed the Dreamliner.

The Dreamliner has been delayed at least three times earlier.

This time, the Boeing Company said, the Dreamliner was being delayed since the plane needed “to reinforce small areas near the connection of the wings and fuselage” before conducting the test flight. This reinforcement, the company had earlier announced, would take place before July 2009. Update: Boeing Dreamliner test flight by end Dec 2009.

Pat Shanahan, vice-president and general manager of airplane programmes for Boeing’s commercial airplane division, had said earlier that, during a test conducted in May 2009 involving bending the Dreamliner’s wings to simulate flight conditions, technicians had found out “greater-than-expected stress” in the plane’s “side-of-body” structure.

Additional tests conducted a week ago showed that the Boeing 787 required “structural reinforcement” before it could be test-flown, according to Shanahan.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a mid-sized, wide-body, twin-engine airliner being developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The jetliner can carry between 210 and 330 passengers, depending on the plane’s variant and seating configuration.
In as statement, Boeing Company – the second largest manufacturer of commercial airplanes in the world – claimed that the 787 Dreamliner would be more fuel-efficient than earlier Boeing planes and will be the first major passenger plane to use composite materials for most of its construction. The company also said it expected the Boeing 787 jet to become the backbone of the long-haul fleets of airlines worldwide, replacing the Boeing 767 aircraft.
Boeing said it has not set a new date for the Dreamliner’s first flight, adding that “it will be several weeks before the new schedule is available.”
Scott Carson, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in the statement that structural modifications like these “are not uncommon” in the development of new airplanes.

The Boeing Company had initially announced that it would deliver the first Dreamliner in May 2008.
About 700 orders for Dreamliner aircraft were placed by the time the aircraft maker announced its third delay – in April 2008.

According to media reports, major airlines like Australia’s Qantas Airways, Britain’s British Airways and the United States-based Continental Airlines plan to use to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to launch what are described as “long, thin routes” – that is, long routes with less number of passengers than carried by the Boeing 747.

The Boeing Company’s rival, the France-based Airbus Industrie, too had problems with delivering its Airbus A380 Superjumbo – the worlds’ largest passenger plane. The Superjumbo had to undergo two years of delays as well as cost overruns before it made its maiden flight in October 2007.
However, the Airbus A380 Superjumbo and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner do not compete with each other since the two planes fulfill different requirements for airlines.