After much anticipation and excitement, on Wednesday, Boeing acknowleged their 787 Dreamliner will be delayed by six months. The first test flight was pushed back until the end of the first quarter of 2008. The company listed assembling problems that effected the schedule as the main reason for the delay. This news comes as a surprise since last week Boeing announced everything was on target for May 2008.

Boeing's 787 Dreamliner is suppose to change aviation. The aircraft is suppose to offer roomier seats and use 20 percent less fuel. Multiple airlines have placed orders for the 787 Dreamliner.

Chairman and CEO Jim McNerney expressed disappointment over the delays but said the problems relate to the company's supply chain, not to any structural or design problems.

"We are very confident in the design of this airplane," he said on a conference call. "It'll be a 25- to 30-year success - one of the fundamentally new things in aviation."

The 787, Boeing's first newly designed jet since airlines started flying the 777 in 1995, will be the world's first large commercial airplane made mostly of carbon-fiber composites, which are lighter, more durable and less prone to corrosion than more traditional aluminum.

Boeing has said it will be cheaper to maintain and offer better fuel efficiency and more passenger comforts than comparable planes flying today.

But the company said its effort has been shadowed by difficulty getting the right parts from its suppliers on time as well as shortages of fasteners and other small parts that hold large sections of the plane together.

Boeing said the postponement will not materially affect its earnings or guidance for next year but will cause it to push back an estimated 30 to 35 deliveries of 787s from next year to 2009. The delay also will cost Boeing undisclosed penalty pay to customers.