US planemaker Boeing has announced that the first deliveries of its new 787 Dreamliner plane will be delayed by six months due to production problems.
In a statement the company said the delay was the result of "continued challenges completing assembly of the first airplanes".
The first 787s are now not due to be delivered until late November or December 2008, compared to an original delivery date of next May.
As such the first Dreamliner is not expected to take to the skies until the end of the first quarter of 2008.
The delay is likely to come as a blow to Boeing, amid hopes that the 787 will allow the planemaker to assume the edge over rival Airbus. Its key competitor was itself plagued by a series of delays in the production of its A380 superjumbo.
However Boeing, which previously announced plans to push back the first 787 flight until the end of this year, insisted that it was confident about the plane's prospects despite the latest delay.
"Notwithstanding the challenges that we are experiencing in bringing forward this game-changing product, we remain confident in the design of the 787, and in the fundamental innovation and technologies that underpin it," said Boeing chairman and chief executive Jim McNerney.
"The newly revised schedule for first flight and first delivery addresses the production challenges and restores margin for the programme to deal with issues that may be uncovered in final ground or flight testing," he added.
The 787, Boeing's first all-new jet since 1995, will be the only large commercial aircraft made mostly or carbon fibre as opposed to aluminium. The Dreamliner is already being hailed as the most environmentally-friendly plane in the world.
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