Boeing Dreamliner Deliveries Face New Delays -- Update
May 28 2021 - 1:01PM
Dow Jones News
By Andrew Tangel
Boeing Co. has halted deliveries of its 787 Dreamliners, adding
fresh delays for customers following a recent five-month suspension
in handing over the aircraft due to production problems, people
familiar with the matter said.
Federal air-safety regulators have requested more information
about Boeing's proposed solution to address the previously
identified quality lapses, these people said.
It wasn't clear how long the halt might last, these people said.
American Airlines Group Inc. was slated to receive a new Dreamliner
this week, but that delivery isn't expected until next week at the
earliest, one of these people said.
A Boeing spokesman said the company was working in a timely and
transparent manner to provide regulators with more information
related to undelivered 787s. The Federal Aviation Administration on
Friday confirmed that Boeing had halted Dreamliner deliveries,
saying that the plane maker needs to demonstrate that its proposed
inspection method complies with federal-safety regulations.
The temporary halt could further pressure Boeing's finances, as
customers typically pay the bulk of an aircraft's price on receipt,
and disrupt airlines' plans as travel demand picks up along with
rising Covid-19 vaccinations.
Deliveries are on track to fall short of expectations set by
Chief Executive David Calhoun last month, when he told analysts the
manufacturer planned to hand over 10 to12 Dreamliners to customers
each month.
The FAA launched a review of Boeing's Dreamliner production last
year and has increased scrutiny of its 737 MAX manufacturing
operations following earlier factory slip-ups.
As part of its Dreamliner scrutiny, the agency has recently
requested more information about the plane maker's proposed method
for addressing quality issues using a system that would allow for
targeted checks of newly produced aircraft, rather than broader
inspections of more areas, people familiar with the matter said.
Boeing's proposed method is based on a statistical analysis of
data.
Until Boeing can satisfy the FAA's requests, the agency is
requiring Boeing to perform the broader inspections, which are more
time-consuming and labor-intensive, these people said.
Many of the 787 quality lapses involve tiny gaps where sections
of the jet's fuselage, or body of the plane, join together.
Problems have emerged in other places, too, including the vertical
fin and horizontal stabilizer at the tail. Such gaps could lead to
eventual premature fatigue of certain portions of the aircraft,
potentially requiring extensive repairs during routine, long-term
maintenance.
The plane maker has delivered a total of 12 Dreamliners in the
two months since it resumed deliveries of the aircraft on March 26,
following a five-month halt while it addressed the production
lapses, according to aviation data firm Ascend by Cirium. Boeing's
last Dreamliner delivery was on May 4, Cirium data show.
Boeing has reduced output of the Dreamliner to five a month
after shuttering assembly at its Everett, Wash., plant near Seattle
and focusing production at North Charleston, S.C. It had built up a
backlog of around 100 finished planes by the end of April, and had
hoped to deliver most of them by the end of the year.
Doug Cameron contributed to this article.
Write to Andrew Tangel at Andrew.Tangel@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 28, 2021 12:51 ET (16:51 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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