Boeing Co will inspect its entire test fleet of 787 Dreamliners before further flights after identifying a workmanship issue that affects the jet's horizontal stabilizers, the company said on Thursday.

Boeing said it expects the issue will be addressed within the existing program schedule and the 787 remains on track for the first delivery to All-Nippon Airways <9202.T> by the end of this year.

Fixing each plane will take up to eight days, the company said in a statement emailed to Reuters.

But Boeing said reports that the fleet was grounded were incorrect. Earlier, the Seattle Times reported the fleet was temporarily grounded but that the planes' flight testing and delivery schedules would not be affected.

Production of the carbon-composite airplane was delayed five times in three years, and the first flight was postponed six times, because of parts shortages, design problems and a two-month strike at Boeing's factory.

Boeing has already received more than 850 orders for the plane.

(Reporting by Nick Zieminski and Kyle Peterson; editing by Carol Bishopric)