All Things 787 is now reporting that only two Dreamliners, both configured for longer haul flights, are going to be delivered this month.

That makes four to the start of February, the other two, in a domestic/regional configuration for All Nippon Airways, having been delivered in September and October.

The deafening silence from the aviation and general media on this is troubling. The last financial guidance from Boeing on matters 787 was several months ago, and it told investors that up to seven of the Dreamliners would be delivered by 31 December.

What the hell is going on, not just in the media, but in Boeing? What is the problem with this jet? Why has almost every single statement by Boeing since the roll out of a decorated shell in July 2007, whether under the supposedly enforceable rules of financial guidance, or in general interviews and briefings, been variously purposefully misleading, vague, inaccurate or useless?

Are they in some sort of urinating contest with Lockheed Martin as to who can make the most wildly unreliable statements about a major aviation project, or are they truly flying blind, with no idea what is really going on?

Airbus behaved evasively and badly over the delays to the A380, stonewalling inquiries for some four months as to the real cause, design computer mismatching of wiring, by lying about how it was all due to the complexity of customer requirements for the interior of the jet.

It was a poor act by Airbus, and it caused a purge throughout management. But all of that was trivial in the light of delays to the 787, and what has to be really deep seated issues if the second, and most recent delivery of a Dreamliner was three months ago.

As mentioned in the previous post, only by getting this jet out on some real long haul routes, for which is was supposedly marketed and designed, will the industry and its investors begin to see performance indicators as to how accurate all the hype about super lightweight ultra fuel efficient plastic jets really is.

It may well be that when Airbus drops hints about how so far composites in the thin cycle sensitive structure of airliners has just produced ‘black metal’ we are seeing the truth that the current composite technology is a decade or two behind the hoop la.

A position statement from Boeing may not tell us the truth, if the past is any guide. But it would give us something firm against which to test the situation that has put some customers, such as Qantas/Jetstar and Air New Zealand, and All Nippon in particular, in an incredibly difficult position in terms of modernising their fleets and keeping faith with their customers and stakeholders.

Let’s not ask Boeing for too much. By now, according to guidance only some 15 months old, production should be ramping up from middle single figures to around 10 per month.

So Boeing surely could just list the next 10 deliveries in order and within, say a two week period, since it has around 40 incomplete jets parked at Everett, and allow a realistic assessment as to where exactly we are being taken.