• Most Popular
  • Most Shared

Boeing to delay jet deliveries: report

Wed Nov 19, 2008 6:53am EST
A man looks at a scale model of Boeing's 787 dreamliner at their booth at the Singapore Air Show in Singapore February 19, 2008. REUTERS/Vivek Prakash

(Reuters) - Plane maker Boeing Co is reworking its entire production schedule, adding up to 10 weeks to original delivery dates for all 3,734 jetliners in its order backlog as it tries to recover from a machinists' strike, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.

Since early November, Boeing officials have been working to bring production lines back up to speed, after they lay dormant during a 58-day strike by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the paper said.

The process, which calls for careful coordination among hundreds of suppliers and tens of thousands of workers worldwide, could take several weeks, the paper added.

Boeing officials could not immediately be reached for comment by Reuters.

Boeing officials have decided against trying to kick the factories into a higher gear to make up the lost ground, fearing such a move might backfire and add to manufacturing woes at the Chicago aerospace company's jet plants, the Journal said.

Boeing is not expected to publicly discuss details of its new schedule, which will include updated financial guidance and projections of how many airplanes it will deliver this year and next, until early December, the paper added.

Last week, Boeing pushed back the schedule on the cargo version of its 747 jumbo by as much as nine months.

(Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)



More from Reuters

A customer is served at a counter inside a foreign exchange store displaying a poster of various banknotes including the Chinese yuan or renminbi (RMB) in Hong Kong November 20, 2009. REUTERS/Bobby Yip
OUTLOOK 2010:

Be careful what you wish for

Pressure on China to loosen its grip on the yuan will continue but the U.S. should tread carefully. Here are five world market issues to watch.  Full Article 

Aurora, a 20-year-old Beluga whale, swims with her newborn calf after giving birth at the Vancouver Aquarium in Vancouver, British Columbia June 7, 2009. REUTERS/Andy Clark

365 days for the doomed

From polar bears to emperor penguins, endangered species will get top online billing in 2010 during the Year of Biodiversity.  Full Article