Qantas said today that the three-month delay of
the 787 Dreamliner announced by Boeing would now see Jetstar not take
delivery of its first B787 before May 2009.

The Chief Executive Officer of Qantas, Mr Geoff Dixon, said that while
the delay would affect Jetstar’s international expansion in the short
term, there would be no effect on the Qantas Group’s overall growth
strategy and no impact on Qantas Group earnings.

He said Qantas would finalise its contingency plans to mitigate against
the delay once a revised delivery schedule was received from Boeing,
which was expected within the next few weeks.

“In the meantime, we will look at a range of options including revised
retirement dates for some of our aircraft, re-allocating existing
capacity and potential schedule adjustments,” Mr Dixon said.

He said Qantas’ contractual arrangements with Boeing provided for the
ability to claim liquidated damages in certain circumstances.

“We will be discussing the issue of liquidated damages with Boeing in
the coming weeks,” Mr Dixon said.

The Qantas Group’s commitment to the B787 extends to 115 aircraft, with
65 firm orders, 20 options and 30 purchase rights. The first 15 B787s
delivered to the Qantas Group will be operated by Jetstar on
international routes.
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