Dreamliner debut put off to late fall

CHICAGO, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Boeing said its new 787 Dreamliner aircraft, beset by a series of delays, probably won't make its maiden voyage until late fall.

That puts the Chicago-based company on a “very tight” schedule to meet its first delivery date next May, to Japan's All Nippon Airways, officials said.

Scott Carson, head of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, told reporters and analysts on a conference call that the first flight probably will be between mid-November and mid-December. That would put about a three-month delay on original plans.

The set-back leaves Boeing with very little time to sort out problems that typically crop up during flight tests for brand-new aircraft and still deliver the first plane by May 2008, as scheduled.

Production of the first aircraft to be used in testing has been slowed by a global shortage of titanium fasteners and by systems integration issues with the computers that will run its flight controls, officials said.