Delivery dates for Boeing’s planes have been pushed back due to the just-settled machinists’ strike and other issues. As a result, the 747, the 777 Freighter, the 787 and 737 will be delayed a couple of months. In a sense, this is good news for the airlines who announced that they are delaying their fleet purchases over the next couple of years due to concerns over the bottom line.
Travel Weekly is reporting that because of third-quarter losses due to fuel price volatility and cutbacks on demand due to the global recession, airlines are trimming their capacity and delaying introducing new planes to the fleet.
Southwest chief executive Gary Kelly said they may not add any planes next year despite having a few 737s on order and Continental chief executive Lawrence Kellner said that they are “being cautious about demand and realistic about how much money or credit could be available.”
Boeing said that the delivery of the 747-8 Intercontinental, which is designed to compete with the Airbus A380, will be pushed back until 2011. The plane can hold 467 passengers in a three-class layout. Lufthansa has 20 on order.
The delivery date of the 777 Freighter, ordered by Air France, has slipped by about two months into 2009. The much-touted 787 has no definite date for its first test flight.
Boeing is still trying to come up with a delivery date for its next generation 737s. The new fasteners it has delivered could cause corrosion problems.
Continental worked out a schedule to delay delivery of the 737s. It was supposed to receive them in 2009 and 2010. Air Tran deferred deliveries of its 737s until 2013 to 2015.
