ANALYSIS-Boeing delay hurt its credibility on Wall Street

By Bill Rigby

NEW YORK, Jan 16 (Reuters) - If you want to know what's going on with Boeing Co's (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) new 787 Dreamliner, ask anybody but Boeing.

The U.S. aircraft maker has consistently been late acknowledging problems with its new high-tech plane, long after industry blogs and Wall Street analysts have blown the whistle.

The company generally declines to answer specific questions about the project and the sheer inaccuracy of its projections are eroding its credibility. Boeing's problems are starting to resemble the spiraling setbacks at rival Airbus, whose A380 superjumbo was two years late, throwing parent EADS (EAD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) into financial disarray and ending the careers of several executives.

On Wednesday, the U.S. plane maker finally faced up to the second major delay on the revolutionary, carbon-fiber aircraft, putting it about nine months behind its original schedule.

The announcement, only a month after Boeing executives assured investors everything was on track, was widely predicted by industry watchers.

The delay forced Boeing to concede it will not build 109 787s by the end of 2009, an ambitious promise that most analysts had already lost faith in.

Wall Street is now asking why the latest assurances should be any more reliable than the last.