Boeing’s delays in delivering its much heralded 787 appears to have breathed new life into the near moribund 767 program, as the 787’s launch customer, Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA), has drawn up a contingency plan that involves the delivery and introduction of nine Boeing 767-300ERs into its fleet to cover interim needs for lift. Yesterday the ANA Board of Directors outlined a new delivery schedule that calls for the original order for 50 Boeing 787s, but one that changes the original planned delivery from May 2008 to August 2009 and the delivery rate from some seven aircraft a year until 2015 to approximately six airplanes each year until 2017.  

According to ANA, delays range from 14 to 36 months per aircraft, resulting in an average setback of two years.

ANA expects to introduce the nine 767-300ER in Fiscal Years 2010 and FY2011. It said it would also revise the retirement schedule of its present fleet and its maintenance schedule. ANA accounted for the delay to the delivery of the 787 in its 2008 Corporate Plan; hence, it foresees no change to the outlook for the current fiscal year as announced on April 30, 2008. However, the plan did not consider the effects of the machinists strike at Boeing, now entering it third week.