Boeing delays Dreamliner delivery

Boeing is delaying delivery of its first new-generation 787 Dreamliner aircraft until early 2011.

Japan’s All Nippon Airways was due to take delivery of the aircraft at the end of this year.

The 787 project has already been delayed for more than two years, following a series of hitches.

Boeing announced on Friday that the latest setback was due to the availability of an engine needed for the final phases of flight testing.

The company said that it now expected All Nippon to take delivery of the aircraft in the middle of the first quarter of 2011.

The 787, being built in Seattle, is Boeing’s most sophisticated plane yet. The company claims it will be lighter, faster and emit less CO2 than similar-sized planes currently flying.

It made its maiden flight in December 2009 and was a star feature at July’s international airshow at Farnborough in the UK.

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