U.S. stock index futures pointed to a weak open on Friday with investors set to take profits after a gain of more than 2 percent in the previous session.

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The Boeing Co. (BA). is pushing back the schedule of its troubled 787 Dreamliner jet program by about six months as it works to unwind delays caused by the recently concluded union-machinists strike, and by thousands of improperly installed fasteners on the first couple of jetliners on the production line. This puts the high-profile airliner program about two years behind schedule.

The Boeing Co. (BA) may further delay first deliveries of its flagship 787 Dreamliner by at least six months – meaning the jet will enter service more than two years later than was originally projected – because of the recently concluded strike by union machinists and several other problems, The Wall Street Journal reported.

“Airshow China,” the huge aerospace trade show that’s known officially as the “China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition,” ended Sunday in the southern-coast city of Zhuhai. It was the seventh time the event has been held.

For The Boeing Co. (BA), the strike may be over, but the fallout continues. Just days after resolving an eight-week strike by 27,000 unionized machinist workers, the Chicago-based aerospace giant announced that the job action will force it to delay the first test flight of its problem-plagued 787 Dreamliner passenger jet until next year.

The Boeing Co. (BA). said yesterday (Sunday) that its machinists in Washington, Oregon and Kansas ended a 58-day strike when the 27,000 unionized workers ratified a four-year contract.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Union will vote this Saturday on whether to end its two-month strike against The Boeing Co. (BA). A tentative agreement to end the strike was reached Monday.

As a journalist who has followed both the aerospace sector and China’s global emergence for many years, I can honestly say that I wasn’t surprised when China recently announced its intent to get into the jumbo-jet airliner business.