Is there a more cut-throat commercial environment than the aerospace industry – or any sector where they play for higher stakes?

At the time of writing, the Boeing Corporation had still not admitted to further overruns in production of its 787 Dreamliner – although it seems inevitable the first plane will not take to the air for another nine months, with deliveries to customers put back to late 2009.   (They have now!)

The original production schedule had the first 787 being delivered to All Nippon Airways in a few weeks time.

It’s not that long ago that Boeing executives were chortling at the problems that Airbus was having in wiring up the in-flight entertainment systems in its super-jumbo A380. Almost unbelievably, the German engineers had been using different – and non-compatible – design software to their French counterparts.

But Boeing now has its own problems with the Dreamliner. Striving for savings in weight, they have had to redesign and retro-fit to the six test aircraft a strengthened wingbox – the rather important bit of the aircraft that joins the wings to the fuselage. Oh, and it’s also where the fuel is stored.

This comes only a few days after the Airbus A380’s first commercial flight into London. It’s two years late, of course, but operating costs are 20 per cent lower than a Boeing 747 – as confirmed by the operator, Singapore Airlines.

Schadenfreude can be best translated as ‘But for the misfortune of my neighbour, life would be unbearable’, but the people at Airbus have sensibly preferred not to comment on their competitor’s problems (so far).

The main lesson for all is perhaps not to let marketing proceed too far ahead of product design and delivery. It seemed such a good idea at the time – but do they now regret it?