Qantas brace for further delay of Dreamliner

Yet another delay to the delivery of Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner aircraft has raised concerns that Qantas will have to keep its fleet of ageing 767 planes in service for longer, reported The Age

Qantas will find out shortly the extent of what will become the seventh delay to Boeing's troubled 787 programme, after the manufacturer determined the cause of an electrical fire on a test aircraft two weeks ago.

Boeing is yet to determine how long it will take to make the fixes and said it expected to finalise within a few weeks a revised delivery schedule for the 787 programme.

Qantas is due to take delivery of 50 Dreamliners, half of which will be diverted to Jetstar.

Analysts have speculated that the latest delay could push the delivery schedule out by up to nine months. Although putting a dampener on Jetstar's plans to fly to southern Europe, Macquarie.

 
Equities said the bigger headache for Qantas was the likelihood of it having to extend the operating lives of its ageing Boeing 767 aircraft. By 2012, the average age of Qantas' 26-strong 767 fleet will be 20 years.

A further delay will mean that Qantas is likely to have to keep its 767s in service until at least 2015.
(Source:www.cargonewsasia.com)