Gleeful Boeing hands first 787 to Japan's ANA

Updated: 2011-09-27 11:29

(Agencies)

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Gleeful Boeing hands first 787 to Japan's ANA

Boeing employees walk around a 787 Dreamliner scheduled for delivery to All Nippon Airways (ANA) parked next to the Boeing Everett Factory at Paine Field in Everett, Washington Sept 26, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

Investors are now waiting to see whether Boeing can pull a rabbit out a hat and meet its production goals after seven postponements adding up to more than three years of delays.

"Now is the time for Boeing looking forwards and not backward, concentrate on the manufacturing process and satisfy the customer," said Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at London brokerage BGC Partners. "Once they do that the rest will fall into place."

Boeing plans to lift production to 10 787 Dreamliners a month by the end of 2013, while also pushing up production of the 737 narrowbody, upgrading the same model and gearing up for production of a 767 aerial tanker for the US Air Force.

"We'll be at two and a half (787s per month) by the end of this year," said Pat Shanahan, general manager of Boeing's airplane programs, after the ceremony. Those planes will come from Everett, with a new plant in North Charleston, South Carolina, adding to the production.

Boeing is looking to raise that rate to 3.5 per month in the first part of next year, Boeing commercial planes chief Jim Albaugh later told reporters.

After seven delays, analysts say Boeing is under pressure to prevent further slippage.

"We share some apprehension with the market about the achievability of that plan, which will take us to a very high production rate for a wide-body aircraft," said aerospace analyst Carter Copeland at Barclays Capital in New York.

"Given the stops and starts and problems it is natural for investors to have some concerns about achievability but the company seems confident."

Surge line

Boeing's Everett plant contains four 787s in one bay of its giant assembly hall, with other 787s parked in an area set aside for completion work. Each aircraft currently stays for 10 days at each point on the line, but this will have to be accelerated as production increases.

The main line is designed to rise to seven aircraft a month. A second temporary "surge" line is being readied to tackle three aircraft a month when necessary and the facility in South Carolina will assemble three a month.

The surge line will partly allow Boeing to smooth out alterations of production flow between two models of the aircraft currently on sale.

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