The new 787 Dreamliner will take some more time to launch and is expected to begin its flight not before mid-February, as announced by Boeing Co. The airplane is already two years behind its scheduled launch.

The cause behind the delay is being said the problem that hit its Rolls-Royce Trent engine during the testing, which tore apart while being run on a ground-test stand. The failure in the engine was first brought out by Flight International trade magazine last week.

Both Boeing and Rolls-Royce Group made no comments on the failure in the engine. As stated by Jim Proulx, Boeing Spokesman, the specifications of the failure in the engine would be provided by Rolls-Royce and he confirmed that the delay was caused only due to the engine failure.

Proulx said, "The corrective action associated with that failure has contributed to the engine challenges that we now assess are affecting the flight test program".

As told by Titus Naikuni, Chief Executive of Kenya Airways to trade magazine Air Transport World, it may withdraw its order of nine 787s and in place of it would purchase Airbus A330s.

May 2008 was the planned period to introduce the first Dreamliner. The first delay was caused due to the longer time taken by workers of Italian partner Alenia to construct 787 horizontal tails, which made the first supply to be deferred to 2011.