Norwegian Air’s Boeing 787s may be delayed a few weeks

787 Norwegian Air Shuttle

(Reuters) – Norwegian Air was expected to have four Boeing 787 Dreamliners delivered this spring but delivery may now be delayed for a few weeks after Boeing reported finding some wing cracks, daily newspaper Aftenposten said on Monday.

Boeing said last week that “hairline cracks” had been discovered in the wings of about 40 787 Dreamliners that are in production, marking another setback for the company’s newest jet.

Norwegian Air, Europe’s third-biggest budget airline by passenger numbers after Ryanair and EasyJet, said it was confident in the ability of Boeing to honour its obligations, Aftenposten reported.

“When Boeing agrees deliveries with us, there is always room for delays. We expect these deliveries to happen within that time,” a spokeswoman was quoted as saying.

Norwegian Air has ordered 14 Dreamliners from Boeing in total, including three jets that are already in operation, which have suffered some technical problems in recent months.

During the autumn its first two Dreamliners broke down more than half a dozen times, forcing it to lease back-up planes on short notice or cancel flights.

In January a fuel leak caused a flight from Bangkok to Oslo to be delayed by 19 hours.

SOURCE REUTERS