Boeing 787 Dreamliner Delivery Delay Sees Halt in International Route
Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA) has postponed its Boeing 787 Dreamliner service because of production delays.
ANA, the first to use the 787 Dreamliner, had scheduled the aircraft for some of its international routes, but Boeing’s delay of the third plane – which was slated to arrive this month – caused the company to reschedule.
The delay was due to a "productivity reason," according to a statement on ANA’s website.
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The company announced it is "extremely regrettable, but we have decided to change plans. We will do our best to ask Boeing to arrange an early reception of the aircraft."
Adding, "ANA regrets to take the precaution of amending international flight plans. ANA will continue urgent negotiations with Boeing to deliver the 787 as early and as close to the original schedule as possible."
The Japanese carrier has delayed services between Tokyo and Beijing and between Tokyo and Frankfurt.
A Boeing spokeswoman said the matter has since been resolved and that this was not a widespread problem, according to Reuters. The delay was apparently due to a slight wiring problem that the Federal Aviation Administration found on three planes during a standard inspection.
"As always we are working closely with our customer to minimize the impact and expect to deliver this airplane as quickly as possible," the spokeswoman added.
ANA Chief Executive Shinichiro Ito said that the 787 Dreamliner operated without many problems in early commercial service this week, the International Business Times wrote.
The 787 Dreamliner is a fuel efficient, carbon-composite plane. According to Boeing, the plane uses 20 percent less fuel than the 767 model, which is close in size. The lightweight aircraft was finally ready for service in 2011 – three years behind its developmental schedule.
The company plans to increase its monthly production of the 787 Dreamliner from 2.5 to 10 by the close of 2013, Reuters reported. Boeing currently has over 800 airplane orders.
