JAL says first Dreamliner delivery will be delayed

China National News Tuesday 7th February, 2012

TOKYO - Japan Airlines (JAL) said Tuesday that delivery of first Dreamliner aircraft originally expected by February end would be delayed as Boeing was removing a technical glitch in some of the fuel-efficient passenger jets.

"Negotiations (with Boeing) are still going on," JAL spokeswoman Sze Hunn Yap said.

She said the carrier had expected four 787 Dreamliners by the end of March.

"With this development we are unsure," she said, referring to a fuselage problem in the plane that is being checked and repaired.

The Japanese carrier has ordered 35 of Boeing's advanced carbon composite aircraft and the delivery of the first plane is expected in March now.

Boeing, the world's second-largest commercial plane-maker, has said the fuselage problem poses no safety risks to passengers but insisted it can be fixed.

All Nippon Airways, another Japanese carrier whose fleet includes the Dreamliner, has ordered 55 of them.

Dreamliner is said to be the highly fuel-efficient aircraft, half of its body is made of lightweight carbon composite materials.

Boeing makes 2.5 Dreamliners per month and is expecting to boost the output to 3.5 in the second quarter, and five by the end of 2012.

Some 59 carriers the world over have placed orders for 870 airplanes valued over $178 billion.

Analysts are saying the production would be hit by the glitch

But Boeing has denied it. "We have the issue well-defined and are making progress on the repair plan. There is no short-term safety concern. Repairs, should they be needed, will be implemented in the most efficient manner possible," Boeing spokesman Scott Lefeber said Sunday.