Boeing Co. said it was still studying its delivery schedule for the 787 Dreamliner after a published report suggested deliveries of the carbon-composite plane could be put off until late June or July.
The French newspaper Les Echos reported on its Web site that Boeing could begin deliveries next summer, based on talks between Boeing and Air France-KLM. “We continue to assess our schedule and will announce a new schedule when that work is complete,” Boeing said in a statement Thursday.
Boeing is making design changes to the Dreamliner’s electrical distribution panels and updating power-management software following a fire aboard a test flight on Nov. 9 that led to the grounding of the 787 test fleet.
The plane maker said last week the latest incident would push back the delivery target of the 787, which is already nearly three years late, but did not indicate a timeframe.
Boeing said last week that the targeted date for the first delivery of the plane was likely to slip from its latest target, the first quarter of 2011. The original target date was May 2008.
In recent weeks, analysts such as Robert Stallard of RBC Capital Markets have estimated that first delivery could be delayed by at least six months to around the third quarter of 2011.
Shares of Boeing were down 0.7 percent at $64.75 on the New York Stock Exchange at midafternoon on Thursday.
