Brake software latest threat to Boeing 787

By Bill Rigby and Tim Hepher

FARNBOROUGH (Reuters) - Verifying software in the brake control system of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner is the latest problem holding back the new plane's first test flight, the troubled programme's chief said.

The first of the 787s, originally meant to fly last summer, has been held back by three major production delays due to parts shortages and incomplete work from suppliers arriving at its assembly plant near Seattle.

The plane is still on track for a first flight in the fourth quarter -- in line with the last schedule announced in April -- but the newest "air bubble" in the timetable is in the brake systems, Pat Shanahan, general manager of the 787 program, said at a briefing at Farnborough Airshow on Tuesday.

"We need to push harder on the brake system," he said.

If all had gone to plan in production, the sleek, fuel-efficient airliner would have been one the stars of the world's largest air show after being delivered to its first Japanese customer in May.

Shanahan confirmed the plane is still on track for first delivery in the third quarter of 2009, Boeing's latest target.

The carbon-composite aircraft, promising 20 percent fuel savings, has been a huge success with airlines which have ordered 896 planes worth nearly $150 billion (74.7 billion pounds) at list prices.

But Boeing has suffered parts shortages and problems with incomplete work by suppliers, resulting in delivery delays resembling the two-year lag encountered by Airbus on its A380 superjumbo, which entered service last October.