Aug. 28--Boeing's top salesman for India said Monday the first Dreamliner delivery from South Carolina will not happen today but that it will happen this week.
Dinesh Keskar, the plane maker's senior vice president of sales for Asia Pacific and India, said London's banks were closed Monday, meaning Boeing South Carolina's first airline customer, Air India, could not yet wire payment for its first 787 Dreamliner.
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But that obstacle will be gone today, and the transaction, which has been on the verge of completion all summer, should close soon thereafter, according to Keskar. "I feel confident that the first airplane will be delivered this week," he said, without offering a specific day.
Keskar's comments reiterated a local company spokeswoman's statement Friday that an "Air India delivery team is here in South Carolina for the delivery that's scheduled for next week." Meanwhile, Keskar dispelled rumors of an imminent delivery that have been swirling both inside Boeing and in press reports from Charleston to India for weeks.
A Dow Jones report Monday quoted an unnamed Air India executive saying, if certain formalities were completed Monday, "the first plane should arrive Wednesday or Thursday" in New Delhi, the Indian capital city that is 10.5 hours ahead of local time here in Charleston.
An Air India spokesman did not respond to an email Monday and hasn't responded to inquiries since early July.
Keskar, speaking from Seattle, said he was in Charleston all last week with the Air India delegation as they checked out the first jet to be delivered. The plane in question, one of two 787s built in Everett, Wash., and flown to North Charleston in early July, remained parked next to the local campus delivery center Monday after rolling there Friday.
Keskar said the other Everett-built Dreamliner will be delivered second and that he plans to return to the Lowcountry next month for the delivery of the first S.C.-assembled 787.
Boeing has delivered 17 of the composite-bodied jets to three airlines since last year, but all have been from Everett and none have been as difficult to unload as the Air India jets.
Air India ordered 27 of the fuel-efficient, twin-aisle airplanes in 2005, but Boeing's technical issues and supply-chain hiccups led to more than three years of postponements.
Three planes, all for Air India, have rolled out of the local factory so far, including the latest one two weekends ago. The second S.C.-built 787 suffered an engine failure on a pre-flight taxi test July 28. The affected plane was fitted with a new engine and is back on the flight line.
Lingering uncertainties aside, Keskar said, "I'm looking forward to this week."
Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with the Teal Group in Fairfax, Va., has been following the saga and is not as confident as Keskar that the plane will be handed off this week.
"Nothing is set in stone 'til it's set in stone," Aboulafia said.
Reach Brendan Kearney at 937-5906 and follow him on Twitter at @kearney_brendan.
Copyright 2012 - The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.
