found this on another forum:

“Delta Appears To Reject Initial 787-8 Deliveries
Mar 04 , 2009

Delta appears to have renounced its position as the North American launch customer for Boeing’s 787-8 widebody, according to the carrier’s latest regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Atlanta-based carrier, which inherited a firm order for 18 787-8s when it acquired Northwest Airlines, has dropped the firm orders from its latest report, which was filed late March 2. Instead, the airline in a footnote said the 18 aircraft have been excluded from its firm order obligations because “[t]he Boeing Company has informed us that Boeing will be unable to meet the contractual delivery schedule for these aircraft.”

Delta has been expected to revise, if not cancel, its 787 order since the carrier was favoring Boeing’s 777 over the all-new widebody. This expectation was heightened in December when the airline’s Executive VP for Revenue Planning and Network Management during Delta’s investor day conference said the airline’s 777s could be the 747-400 replacement whichNorthwest had intended when the Eagan, Minn.-based carrier first ordered the 787s.

Full story (subscription required)
http://www.aviationweek.com/publicat…+Reject+Initial+787%2d8+Deliveries“

If true, this is also a big loss for RR, and a win for GE. GE produces the only engine on the 777LR. Also, good news for Airbus as DL has been rumored to get 10 more A330 fairly quickly (the existing NWA A330’s have PW engines).