That fat bloated feeling

After all the positive news about the 787 including rollout to the flightline, Bernstein Research issued a report out on Friday which threw a little cold water on the fire. Their main conclusions are as follows:

1. Weight issues on the first few 787s will limit the range on those aircraft by as much as 15%
2. First delivery won't occur to ANA in 1st quarter 2010 (indication of Boeing being overconfident in their certification schedule)
3. Boeing won't be able to ramp up to a production rate of 10/month until mid 2013 at the earliest. Boeing has said they plan to be at that rate by the end of 2012.

Guy Norris wrote an excellent piece on these issues in an Aviation Week Article

Jon Ostrower posted an great bit of analysis of the weight problem on the 787 essentially verifying Bernsteins' conclusion on the range effect. Jon's 787 Weight Analysis

Lastly, Air Transport World reported on Boeing's response to all this whereby they maintain that the range on the 787-8 will be about 8000 nm rather than being under 7000 nm from Bernsteins' report. Read ATW's Boeing Response Article.

UPDATE: Jon Ostrower posted a great article on the 787 weight issues and Boeing's response:

787 weight/Boeing responds