UPDATE 3-Boeing says to reassess 787 Japan delivery schedule
(Updates with analyst comments)
TOKYO, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) said on Tuesday it would reassess its 787 Dreamliner aircraft delivery schedule for the Japanese market when an ongoing strike ends, raising concern that a prolonged production halt could further push back deliveries.
Japan's two biggest airlines -- Japan Airlines Corp (JAL) (9205.T) and All Nippon Airways (ANA) (9202.T) -- have already announced expected delays in receiving the 787 jets in the face of a machinists' strike that came on top of an 18-month delay in the shipment of the planes.
A prolonged strike by 27,000 machinists who walked off the job on Sept. 6 would seriously hurt 787 development and ripple through a global aerospace industry already strained by project costs, currency volatility and a faltering global economy.
"Frankly, we do not know when the strike will end," Randy J. Tinseth, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Vice President for Marketing, told reporters in Tokyo.
"As soon as the strike does end our operations will normalise... we then will be able to reassess our production, deliveries and programme schedule for the 787 at that time," he said.
Analysts warned that the ongoing U.S. strike is casting a pall over the latest delivery schedule for the 787. Boeing says it has received 895 orders from 57 customers.
"Boing seems to have no idea when the strike will end, and that's also making carriers wonder about when the 788 will be delivered," said Credit Suisse analyst Osuke Itazaki.
"Given the current situation, carriers are already planning their businesses based on the possibility of a further delay to the delivery."
Boeing has had a dominant presence in Japan, with the country's airlines having bought almost all their planes from the world's biggest-selling commercial aircraft maker.
Japan's second-largest carrier ANA is also the launch customer for the 787 Dreamliner, a mid-sized long-haul twin-jet designed to save fuel, and will be the first to fly one. The CEO of ANA got a five-minute standing ovation from 15,000 Boeing employees when the 787 was rolled out in Seattle last July.
But because of the production delay, ANA is now expecting to receive its first 787 in August 2009 -- 15 months later than originally planned.
To cover its capacity needs until the 787 delivery, ANA has decided to introduce nine Boeing 767-300ER aircraft in the 2010 and 2011 business years.
JAL, one of Boeing's most loyal customers, also said last week that it agreed with Boeing to postpone the first 787 delivery for 14 months until October 2009 and introduce a total of 11 Boeing 777 and 767 aircraft to meet its capacity needs.
The 787 production delay also means a delay in a pay-back for partners involved in the programme.
Boeing has teamed up with some Japanese manufactures for the 787 project. Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries (7012.T), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.T) and Fuji Heavy Industries (7270.T) are involved in the development and production of 35 percent of the fuselage of the 787.
Boeing Japan President Nicole Piasecki told reporters that the 787 and other big manufacturing projects are complexed and have lots of risks in them.
"At the end of the day this programme has been sold 900 aircraft. So we have an every bit of confidence although the pay-back period will be longer," she said.
(Additional reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris)
