Boeing halts deliveries for the 787 Dreamliner jets
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Boeing has temporarily suspended the deliveries of the 787 Dreamliner jets. The company has halted these deliveries as it conducts more analysis into a fuselage component. The Federal Aviation Administration has also confirmed the development.
Boeing halts deliveries for 787 Dreamliner jets
The FAA has said that deliveries will not be resumed until the regulatory body is satisfied that this issue has been addressed. The agency also said it was working with the planemaker to determine any courses of action needed for the recently delivered airplanes.
Boeing said that after going through the certification records, it was detected that the supplier had made an analysis error. The error was linked to the 787 forward pressure bulkhead. “We notified the FAA and have paused 787 deliveries while we complete the required analysis and documentation,” Boeing said.
The forward pressure bulkhead that Boeing uses for the 787 jets is supplied by Spirit AeroSystems. The company has said that it is aware that the planemaker has halted the deliveries of the 787 jets.
The statement issued by Spirit AeroSystems said, “based on the information we currently have and our interactions with Boeing to date, we believe it is too early to assert there was an ‘analysis error’ by Spirit.”
Boeing said it had discovered the error with the forward pressure bulkhead in the past week. The company said there was no immediate safety or flight concern in the in-service fleet. It further noted that the changed schedule would affect short-term deliveries. However, the company did not anticipate any changes to production and the delivery outlook during the year.
A report by the Wall Street Journal said that Boeing had not delivered any of its Dreamliner jets since January 26 despite the planemaker having these jets in the production line and dozens of others awaiting delivery because of a documentation issue.
The planemaker’s shares plummeted by 2.6% during extended trading after disclosing disruptions in delivery timelines. Before the market close, the shares had increased by 1%.
Boeing’s 787 jets
The FAA approved the first 787 jets in August after approving the inspection and modification plan that the company made. The planemaker delivered 31 of the 787 jets in 2022. Last month, Boeing planned to deliver between 70 and 80 787 planes by the end of 2023.
The Chief Financial Officer at Boeing, Brian West, issued a statement during an earnings call saying that it would take longer before the company can produce five 787s every month during the year. However, he said the company expected to deliver between 70 and 80.
It is not the first time that Boeing is halting deliveries. In 2021, the planemaker halted deliveries after the FAA raised concerns about the company’s inspection method. In September 2020, the FAA said it had launched a probe into the manufacturing flaws in some of its 787 jetliners.
The current issue facing Boeing is unrelated to a previous quality problem involving shortcomings in the forward pressure bulkhead. The FAA detected this quality problem in 2021, triggering a halt in deliveries until August last year.
