Japan Airlines looking for planes to fly till its delayed Dreamliner arrives

Tokyo:  Japan Airlines has said that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner delivery schedule would be completed only by the end of fiscal 2016. JAL had originally planned to buy 35 units of the Dreamline by the end of fiscal 2013. It will now have all the planes by March 2017, instead of the original agreement date of March 2014.

The three year delay is on account of delays in Beoing's development work. Boeing now estimates deliveries to JAL starting October 2009, having missing its initial target of August this year, according to JAL. To cope with the delay of the Dreamliners, JAL plans to procure two Boeing 777s and nine Boeing 767s over two years from 2010. The airline will also postpone retiring its Boeing 767 aircraft that are currently in service.

JAL said that it has not planned any changes to its order of 35 Dreamliners, with an option of 20 more, and that there would be no impact on its earnings for the current financial year. JAL was planning to combat surging fuel prices and intensifying competition through the early introduction of the fuel-efficient Dreamliner.