Boeing has announced it has delayed deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner jet by six months.
Boeing said the delays were due to the schedule being disrupted by early problems assembling the first 787. Instead of next May, the first deliveries are now targeted for late November or December 2008.
The first test flight, already pushed back once from the initial target of early this autumn, is now not anticipated until around the end of the first quarter of 2008.
Chairman and CEO Jim McNerney said the problems relate to the company's supply chain and not to any structural or design problems.
Boeing says the plane will fly faster and further than any other medium-sized jet, use 20 per cent less fuel and offer more cabin comfort.
The 787, Boeing's first newly designed jet since airlines started flying the 777 in 1995, will be the world's first large commercial aeroplane made mostly of carbon-fibre composites, which are lighter, more durable and less prone to corrosion.
AP