Airlines lining up for Boeing 787 compensation

By Adrian Bathgate and Aiko Hayashi

WELLINGTON/TOKYO (Reuters) - Airlines lined up on Thursday for compensation after Boeing (BA.N) announced a further six-month delay for its new 787 Dreamliner plane.

Rival Airbus, a unit of European aerospace group EADS (EAD.PA), was forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation after its A380 superjumbo fell two years behind schedule and now Boeing faces similar claims from carriers affected by fresh delays for the 787.

Air New Zealand (AIR.NZ), Air India AI.UL and Japan's two big carriers, All Nippon Airways (ANA) (9202.T) and Japan Airlines (JAL) (9205.T), were among those eyeing redress from Boeing along with Virgin VA.UL and British Airways (BAY.L).

The U.S. plane maker announced the third major delay for the revolutionary plane on Wednesday, promising first delivery in the third quarter of 2009, more than a year after the original target of May this year -- with an indefinite delay for a short-range model favoured by the Japanese carriers.

"The 787 is an extremely fuel-efficient aircraft," said Japan Airlines Chief Executive Haruka Nishimatsu. "A delay will impact us significantly."

More than 50 airlines are waiting for 892 Boeing 787s, worth a combined $145 billion (73.2 billion pounds) at list prices.

Despite the problems, Boeing shares jumped 4.8 percent on Wednesday and shares in most of its U.S. parts suppliers for the airliner also rose, with the delay much shorter than Wall street had expected.

However, if delays on the plane get longer, airlines might postpone or cancel orders, which would likely boost sales of Boeing's established 767 and 777 models and increase interest in Airbus's competing A350 XWB.