Boeing is still aiming to deliver its B787 Dreamliner to Chinese airlines on time before the 2008 Summer Olympic Games despite delays in the aircraft's first flight, the US aerospace group said yesterday.

"There is no change in our delivery schedule and the five Chinese airlines will receive their first B787 before the Olympic Games," said an official, who declined to be named, from Boeing China's communications department.

Boeing has received 60 orders from five Chinese airlines - Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines and Shanghai Airlines.

The first flight of the B787 will be delayed by two more months as Boeing struggles to overcome problems in final assembly and completing the flight control software, the Seattle-based company said last Thursday.

The B787's maiden flight was originally planned for August and was postponed to late September. But now it has been delayed to between mid-November and mid-December, said Mike Bair, Boeing vice-president and general manager of the B787 program.

But despite the setback, Boeing aims to deliver the first of the new long-haul jets to Japan's All Nippon Airways on time next May, Bair said.

Boeing previously said the bulk of the subsequent deliveries for several months would all go to Chinese airlines.

If Boeing is to meet that target, the delays in the first flight mean the certification trials would have to be finished in about five months.

It usually takes one to two years for a new aircraft to complete certification trials before entering commercial service. Airbus spent a year and a half completing the flight test campaign of its latest model, the A380.

"We haven't got any information regarding delays in the delivery of our first B787," said Rao Xinyu, board secretary of Air China Ltd. The nation's flagship carrier has ordered 15 B787 jets.

Air China is scheduled to receive two B787 jets next year, with one delivered next June, Rao said. The aircraft will most likely be used on the airline's routes to Europe or the US, Rao added.

A major problem delaying the B787's first flight is the amount of unfinished structural work passed on to the Boeing final assembly plant at Everet, near Seattle, from suppliers with incomplete documentation, the Financial Times has reported.

(China Daily September 11 2007)