Boeing is studying contingency plans to maintain its May 2008 delivery target for the first 787-8 in the face of mounting software and systems delays that could push first flight back into October.

The company originally planned to fly the aircraft at the end of August, but is now officially targeting the end of September. However, Boeing adds that “we’re aware of the complexities which are in front of us, and we know it could move further back into the fall.” A full update on the status of ZA001, the first flight test aircraft, is scheduled to be given on Sept. 5, at which time Boeing is expected to reveal more details of the backup plans, should they be necessary.

Boeing says key challenges remain in three main areas: software/system integration, structural testing and “traveled work.” This refers to assembly, test and checkout tasks that have to be completed “out of sequence” compared with Boeing’s original plan, disrupting other work and in worst-case scenarios causing some completed jobs to be redone. The out-of-sequence problem bedeviled the start of the 737 Next Generation assembly line, helping spark Boeing’s infamous production crisis in 1997. The traveled-work issue was particularly acute for ZA001, which rolled out with an empty interior and without a flight deck.

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