All Nippon Airways Says Boeing Delays Delivery of Third 787 Plane

Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- All Nippon Airways Co., the only operator of Boeing Co.’s 787 plane, said its third Dreamliner will enter service late because of production delays.

The aircraft will be handed over this month rather than in November, Megumi Tezuka, a spokeswoman for the Tokyo-based carrier, said by phone today. Rob Henderson, a Boeing spokesman, declined to comment on the delivery date.

The holdup has caused ANA to postpone the start of 787 services to Beijing by a month and disrupted the introduction of the aircraft on flights to Frankfurt, Tezuka said. ANA received its first 787 in September, more than three years late because of delays caused by Boeing’s use of new technologies and production techniques.

The carrier fell 0.9 percent to 225 yen as of 1:43 p.m. in Tokyo trading. It has declined 25 percent this year, compared with an 18 percent drop in the Nikkei 225 Stock Average.

Boeing is working to boost production of the 787 following the plane’s entrance into commercial service. Workers at its widebody-plane plant north of Seattle were on course to raise their 787 production rate to 3.5 a month by early spring at the latest, Jim Albaugh, Boeing’s commercial aircraft head, said in an interview last month. The tally will reach five a month next fall as the Chicago-based company works toward a target of 10 a month by the end of 2013.

ANA, which placed orders for 55 Dreamliners, is expanding its overseas network following the opening of a new terminal at Tokyo’s Haneda airport. The carrier expects to boost international flights 16 percent in the year ending March 31.

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