Boeing delays the 747-8

Boeing delays new jumbo
Friday November 14,

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Boeing pushed back the schedule on the latest version of its 747 jumbo by several months, blaming supply-chain problems, limited availability of engineering resources within the company, and the recent machinist strike that stopped work at the plane maker's plants for 58 days.

It said on Friday that the first 747-8 Freighter would now be delivered in the third quarter of 2010, rather than the previous target of late 2009. That chiefly affects Japan's Nippon Cargo Airlines and Luxembourg's Cargolux Airlines which made the first orders for the plane in 2005.

The passenger version of the plane, called the 747-8 Intercontinental, will now be delivered in the second quarter of 2011, rather than the previous target of late 2010.

That affects Germany's Lufthansa the only airline that has signed up to buy 747-8 passenger version, ordering 20 in 2006.

The 747-8 is Boeing's biggest-ever plane, seating 467 passengers in a standard three-class layout. It is Boeing's nearest competitor to the 500-plus seat A380, made by EADS unit Airbus.