The lead aircraft of the programme was the 70-to-85 seat 728, which was referred to as the "728JET" early on. Assembly of the aircraft was performed at Fairchild Dornier's facility in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. On 21 March 2002, the first 728 conducted its official roll-out; it was scheduled to perform its maiden flight during the summer of 2002. Furthermore, deliveries of the type were expected to commence during mid-2003, the launch customer being Lufthansa Cityline. However, only two days before the roll-out, it was announced that the programme would be set back by two months due to a shortage of available funds. A week later, reports emerged that the company was in talks with four potential new strategic partners, and that securing at least one was of "critical and crucial" importance.