Dropped the ball? Boeing yes, but I manly see the problem with NLH here. Starting up long haul operations as a launch costumer with only 2 a/c AND no interline agreements is not only naive -it's asking for trouble IMHO.
I guess they are picking up the tab for the leases etc, but difficult to put a price on public perception of the reliability of your operation + there are quite a few planeloads of severely delayed/p1ssed off pax who will think twice about booking a flight on a NAS "DreamLiner" again in a hurry.
I would think twice about booking any NAS flight actually...
I hope for both parties they get their problems sorted out soon...