The Boeing Company‘s (BA) long-in-the-making 787 Dreamliner series passenger jetliner’s delivery has been delayed further to the third quarter of 2011 from the expected delivery in the first quarter of the current fiscal. The snag was due to the impact of an in-flight incident during testing in November 2010.
In November 2010, one of the six 787 series test aircraft caught fire on board forcing it to lose power and make an emergency landing in Texas. The company has grounded all six airplanes until it produces, installs and tests updated software and new electrical power distribution panels for the airplanes.
The 787 program has been gradually returning individual airplanes to the flight test program. After receiving interim software and hardware improvements, four flight test airplanes have been subjected to extensive ground testing and a thorough review for ensuring that they are ready to return to flight. The remaining two airplanes will be returning to flight in the days ahead, bringing the full flight test fleet to flight status.
The 787 program is already running almost three years behind schedule and the current delays add to the waiting period of the consumers. The previous delays in launching the 787 jetliner were due to faulty parts from suppliers. Boeing assembles different parts of an airplane and depends on its suppliers from around the world to build a large portion of the aircraft.
Boeing’s 787 is the first passenger jetliner to use maximum lightweight and environment-friendly composite material for manufacturing — a break from traditional materials like aluminum and titanium. The new airplane of the company will also be fuel efficient, consuming 20% less fuel than those of its peers.
During the third quarter earnings call, Boeing provided earnings guidance of $3.80 per share to $4.00 per share for 2010. Revenue guidance range was narrowed to $64.5 billion-$65.5 billion, from its earlier guidance range of $64 billion $66 billion.
The Zacks Consensus Estimates for fourth quarter of 2010, fiscal year 2010 and fiscal year 2011 are $1.12 per share, $4.00 per share and $4.55 per share, respectively. The company is slated to release its fiscal 2010 numbers on January 26, 2011.
The beginning of 2011 might not be great for Boeing’s commercial airplane business but the company ended 2010 on a high note by delivering 462 commercial airplanes in the fiscal year surpassing its year-end delivery target for 2010 by two airplanes. Boeing ended the year with a strong backlog of 3,443 commercial airplanes.
Boeing currently retains a Zacks #4 Rank (short-term Sell rating). The company competes with The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company N.V.’s aircraft manufacturing subsidiary Airbus, defense goliath Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) and Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC).
Based in Chicago, Boeing designs and produces commercial airplanes, defense systems and civil and defense space systems.
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