Boeing says it might not be able to make the first deliveries of its 787 to All Nippon Airlines in December as promised.
The company says inspections have "stacked up" and changes need to be made to the instruments of test planes.
Boeing says the delivers might be pushed back until early 2011. It says the company still plans to deliver the planes on time, but it"s added this wiggle room to the schedule to be cautious.
Considering the aggressive flight testing program, aviation insider Richard Aboulafia believes this should have been expected.
"I think there"s probably a few dozen people in outer Mongolia who are surprised by this decision," he said. "I don"t think it comes as any great shock to anybody," says Aboulafia.
Aboulafia, a vice president of the Teal Group, doesn"t expect this move to cost Boeing any customers or any orders. "There are too many unknown unknowns and uncertainties to be confident it that rather aggressive flight schedule," he said. "I think everyone involved had digested this a long time ago."