Air India’s Dreamliner delivery delayed by another five months

Air India’s ‘Dreamliner’ woes continue. Just when an independent director on AI Board, Fali Major and COO Gustav Baldauf have returned from a visit to the Boeing facility in Seattle after examining the progress on aircraft readiness, Boeing informed AI that deliveries would be delayed by another five months!

So the first Dreamliner will come to AI by September-October 2012. The initial schedule by Boeing had promised deliveries in June 2008, which was gradually advanced to June 2010.

Official sources confirmed that AI has received a communication from Boeing informing it of a five month delay in deliveries. The airline had ordered 27 Boeing 787 aircraft as part of a 68 aircraft order in 2006. While the other aircraft ordered by Air India are already being produced and have been delivered to the airline, the Boeing 787 is still under production and yet to enter commercial service globally.

Earlier, Air India had sought a refund of the $240 million paid as pre-delivery payment (PDP) for the aircraft while also seeking a firm delivery schedule, listing out the daily financial liability that Boeing will have to pay AI for it to take delivery of the aircraft. As a result of the delay in delivery of the Boeing 787, the airline has suffered due to sub-optimal utilisation of the existing fleet and missed business opportunities. In a letter to the aircraft maker, Air India is believed to have indicated that it has no plans of making any more PDP for the B787.

On August 27 this year, Boeing issued a statement saying that it now expects delivery of the first Boeing 787 aircraft only in middle of the first quarter of 2011.

“The delivery date revision follows an assessment of the availability of an engine needed for the final phase of the flight test this fall,” an official statement issued by the American aircraft manufacturer stated. Earlier the company had said that the cumulative impact of a series of issues including supplier workmanship issues related to horizontal stabiliser and instrumentation delays could push first delivery of the Boeing 787 a few weeks in to 2011.”