Boeing Delays 787 Dreamliner -- Yet Again

This is becoming a recurring theme on The Ticker: Boeing delaying the first flight of its new 787 Dreamliner passenger jet, the plane the company has pinned most of its hopes upon.

The aerospace giant and manufacturing-sector heavyweight delayed the jet in December, thanks to a crippling machinists' strike. The plane already was 15 months behind schedule prior to the eight-month strike.

The company promised in December that it would test-fly the 787 by the end of the second quarter of this year, which is only days away.

Now, the company has no idea when it will fly.

This time, the problem was a design flaw discovered during on-ground testing: a concentration of stresses around the wing's connection to the fuselage that computer simulations had not predicted.

Boeing said the plane is still safe to test-fly, but decided not to take the chance.

The prudent decision hammered the company's stock, which is down about 7 percent on the day, even as the overall markets are trading flat.

There's only everything riding on this plane for Boeing. It has 866 orders for the Dreamliner, each one carrying a price tag of $140 million to $200 million.

-- Frank Ahrens
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