[Texas Eagle]

I’m guessing most of the delay and cost overruns were government induced.

[ejonesie22]

Can you say “look for the union lible”...

[ml/nj]

I’m guessing most of the delay and cost overruns were government induced.

They were Boeing induced.

Beware of environmentally sensitive airplanes.

ML/NJ

[DuncanWaring]

Watching the story over the years, it appears most of the delay and overruns were due to outsourcing major structural parts to incompetent suppliers.

[NavyCanDo]

“I’m guessing most of the delay and cost overruns were government induced.”

Delay Number 1 – September 2007
A three-month delay due to a parts shortage.

Delay Number 2 – October 2007
A three-month delay due to supply chain problems.

Delay Number 3 – January 2008
A three-month delay due to lack of progress on “traveled work”.

Delay Number 4 – April 2008
A delay on deliveries until the third quarter of 2009, 15 months behind schedule. The first test flight rescheduled to the fourth quarter of 2008.

Delay Number 5 – November 2008
A delay on the first flight until the fourth quarter of 2008 due to a machinist’s strike and other problems.

Delay Number 6 – December 2008
A delay on the first flight until the second quarter of 2009 due to parts supply problems.

Delay Number 7 – June 2009
A delay in the maiden flight due to a need to reinforce part of the aircraft’s body.

Delay Number 8 – July 2010
Delayed first delivery until early 2011 due to an explosion of one of the aircraft’s engines while on a test bed.

Delays are expected on a very first airplane of it's type. But three years is costly. Boeing will have to sell alot of these before turning a profit on them. But still the breakthrough gain from this airplane will I think me a mile stone in aviation history.

[wolf78]

I’m guessing most of the delay and cost overruns were government induced.

Nope. The reasons for the delays mostly fell into two categories:

A.) Beancounters at Boeing HQ wanted to reduce the financial risk and financing costs for Boeing itself as much as possible. That's why they outsourced everything they could as to take advantage of subsidies in Japan or Italy and make their suppliers risk-sharing partners. That came back to bite them in the *ss when companies like Alenia couldn't deliver the first time.

B.) Boeing got overambitious because of experiences with the smooth 777 program. They promised not only a revolutionary plane but also one that relies on a completely new production method. And that in record time.

The reason why Boeing cancelled the 737 replacement recently and went for a re-engining instead was not because they couldn't come with new technology, but because they couldn't come up with a way to get the supply chain up and running in the desired timeframe.