Sooooo they are going to scrap the first three?
AIRLINE BIZ Blog | The Dallas Morning News
Boeing says Boeing 787 will fly by end of 2009
9:21 AM Thu, Aug 27, 2009
Terry Maxon/Reporter
Boeing will have that Boeing 787 up and flying by the end of this year, the company said Thursday, and in the hands of its first customer by fourth quarter 2010.
We've lost count of the number of times the company has rescheduled that first flight and delivery, so let's just say this is the latest revision to the timetable.
Says Boeing:
"The new schedule reflects the previously announced need to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft, along with the addition of several weeks of schedule margin to reduce flight test and certification risk. The company projects achieving a production rate of 10 airplanes per month in late 2013."
Boeing had been looking at a Q2 2009 first flight, but on June 23 said the discovery of the weak area would delay test flights for the oft-delayed aircraft again.
There'll be a big accounting charge taken, even though the company says the 787 program is not in a "forward-loss position":
"However, separate from the updated program profitability assessment, the company has concluded that the initial flight-test airplanes have no commercial market value beyond the development effort due to the inordinate amount of rework and unique and extensive modifications made to those aircraft.
"Therefore, costs previously recorded for the first three flight-test airplanes will be reclassified from program inventory to research and development expense, resulting in an estimated non-cash charge of $2.5 billion pre-tax, or $2.21 per share, against third-quarter results. This charge will have no impact on the company's cash outlook going forward."
In other words, those first three airplanes won't be sold and delivered to customers. The company originally had planned to deliver all six test airplanes to customers. Boeing thinks it can sell Test Airplanes 4, 5 and 6, but not 1, 2 and 3.
In its announcement, Boeing said the team that is working on reinforcing the weak area "has completed initial testing and is finalizing design details of new fittings that are expected to ensure full structural integrity of the joint."
It said the company will repeat the static test procedure that uncovered the design problem and analyze the results before the first test flight.