UPDATE 1-Japan's ANA sees 15-mth delay for first Boeing 787
(Adds details, background)
TOKYO, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Japan's All Nippon Airways Co (9202.T) said it expects to receive its first Boeing (BA.N) 787 Dreamliner aircraft in August 2009, 15 months later than originally planned due to production delays at Boeing.
ANA, Japan's second-largest airline after Japan Airlines Corp (JAL) (9205.T), said it still planned to buy 50 of the 787 Dreamliners but it could now take until March 2018 to put all of them in service, two years behind plan.
JAL made a similar announcement last week, saying it expected to get its first 787 in October 2009 instead of August 2008. JAL also stood by its order for 35 of the planes, with an option for 20 more. [ID:nT22585]
Development of the 787 had been fraught with costly delays before nearly 27,000 Boeing machinists walked off the job in early September, stopping production at the company's Seattle-area plants. [ID:nN24462990]
ANA spokeswoman Mie Akiyama said the new delivery forecast does not factor in the impact of a strike, leading open the possibility that the schedule could be even further delayed.
To compensate for the 787 delay, ANA said it planned to introduce 9 Boeing 767-300ER aircraft during the two fiscal years starting from April 2010.
Prior to the announcement, shares of ANA closed unchanged at 385 yen. The benchmark Nikkei average .N225 fell 0.9 percent. (Reporting by Nathan Layne' Editing by Michael Watson)
