Boeing’s 787 customers remain loyal despite current production setbacks.

Boeing’s 787 customers remain loyal despite current production setbacks. Though most of them –including Qantas, Qatar Airways or British Airways- expressed concerns and disappointments with the delivery delays, no one has cancelled orders. With oil prices at $130 a barrel, indeed, the global airlines need new, more fuel-efficient aircraft, such as the 787 or the rival Airbus A350 currently under development. According to Hamilton Sundstrand, the supplier of the power systems for the Dreamliner, Boeing now has all the hardware and software it needs to proceed with the aircraft’s power-on for the first time this month. Handelsblatt comments that this step will be crucial for Boeing as its programme has already accumulated 18 months of delays. The first six aircraft produced will serve for static tests, whereas only the seventh aircraft will be delivered to its first customer, Japanese airline ANA, in the third quarter of 2009. According to the 787 project manager, Patrick Shanahan, “Boeing manages to solve new problems everyday, and everyday confidence increases that we will stay on schedule”. Handelsblatt, Seattle Post Intelligencer (04/06), The Seattle Times (04/06)