Boeing again suspends delivery of 787s to analyze a fuselage element
Boeing has again suspended delivery of its 787 long-haul aircraft, already interrupted for several months in 2021 and 2022 for poor workmanship, in order to analyze a fuselage element more closely, the American agency said on Thursday. overseeing aviation, the FAA.
Deliveries will not resume until the FAA is satisfied the problem has been resolved, the agency said in a statement. message forwarded to AFP.
It was while reviewing the certification records that Boeing discovered that one of its suppliers had made an analysis error on the pressurization bulkhead at the front of the aircraft, explains the American manufacturer in a separate message.
The group has taken the decision to suspend deliveries while redoing the analysis and the related documents.
The FAA says it is working with Boeing to determine what actions may be needed for newly delivered planes.
The company assures for its part that there is no immediate danger for the 787 in service and that the last problem detected should not increase the modifications already planned on the aircraft produced.
The 787 Dreamliner has indeed faced several pitfalls in recent years. Manufacturing defects were discovered in late summer 2020. As the device was closely examined, other problems later emerged.
Boeing had to suspend deliveries, from November 2020 to March 2021 initially, then between May 2021 and August 2022. And reduce production rates.
But after deliveries resumed last summer, Boeing was able to deliver 31 in 2022, including 22 in the fourth quarter.
And in December, United Airlines announced plans to order 100 787 aircraft while optioning 100 more.
In January, however, the manufacturer only delivered three.
It still expected, when releasing its results at the end of January, to deliver between 70 and 80 devices by the end of the year and maintained Thursday this goal.
After the two fatal accidents of the 737 MAX and the flight ban of the aircraft for twenty months, the massive slowdown in air traffic with the pandemic, and the production problems on the 787, Boeing is counting on deliveries of this aircraft to recover financially.
The group's stock fell 3% in electronic trading after the announcement.
