Following  two years of holdups, Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner could make its first trial flight as early as next week.

However once the jet takes off from its factory in Everett, Washington, the company will face another high-stakes test: from the instant the Dreamliner is airborne through about the next 12 months, Boeing will race the clock to test the new aircraft in high altitudes, sub-zero temperatures, desert heat and emergency scenarios.

Even a minor slip risks further holding up the certification the Dreamliner needs from the Federal Aviation Administration before Boeing can deliver the long-overdue aircraft to customers, reports The Australian.

Boeing intends to deliver the first Dreamliner to All Nippon Airways in the fourth quarter of next year. Initially, Boeing had hoped to deliver the first jet in May of 2008.

To keep the testing on track, Boeing has changed a warren of cubicles on the fifth floor of an office block into a command centre where the company will check what will essentially be a mini-airline of test-flight planes.

With an extensive view of the tarmac at Boeing Field, in south Seattle, the Test Operations Centre will be the centre of an effort that will sooner or later have six Dreamliners in testing around the globe.

The trial is especially thorny due to the Dreamliner’s cutting-edge design. Built mostly from composite textiles instead of the typical aluminium, the jet was advertised as lighter and more fuel-efficient than its predecessors.

As Boeing engineers spent the subsequent six months fixing the problem, they also dealt with other, smaller issues that cropped up, which Boeing officials have described as routine for aircraft development.