Boeing Says 787 Back on Track

He said parts shortages are decreasing and "the big push" is to turn on the first aircraft's power in late January. At that point, he said, "our schedule becomes more predictable because our airplane is finally in a state that our factory was designed for."

By contrast, he said, the previous team tried to use "brute force" to complete detail work, "thinking they would break through more quickly" on tasks such as assuring that sufficient fasteners were available to hold the plane together, despite a fastener shortage.

While the 787 is clearly a breakthrough aircraft, the expectation that Boeing can deliver 109 of them in 2009 is probably overly aggressive, said John McMahon, CEO of Shannon, Ireland-based Genesis Lease(GLS Quote), in an interview. The firm, owner of 53 aircraft, could potentially be involved in sale/leaseback arrangements with airlines that acquire 787s.

Assuming that a handful of airplanes are delivered in 2008, delivering the target for the next year would mean production of around nine per month.

"There's no way, in such an early part of the program," McMahon said. "They're right to be ambitious. Unless you set ambitious targets, you're sort of preordained to fail. But with an all-new aircraft, you are inevitably bringing new technology to bear, and new manufacturing processes, and it will probably take longer than everybody would wish."

Delays are not necessarily harmful to Boeing, McMahon noted, because airline customers anticipate them.

"There's a lot of goodwill toward Boeing," he said. "A lot of people are looking forward to the arrival of this aircraft, and there is a recognition that a lot of things have to come together in the right way [and that] Boeing, right now, is hitting some bumps."