Boeing 777X engine faces technical difficulties

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Boeing Co's efforts to build the world's largest twin-engine jet, the 777X, continue to struggle with General Electric Co's new GE9X turbine engine, a Boeing executive said Wednesday.

Boeing faces test problems on the GE9X after assembly delays on the aircraft's carbon composite engine and wings. These problems, combined with the crisis caused by fatal accidents, cause the 737 MAX to drop and leave less room for maneuvering by the world's largest planner to achieve its official 2020 commissioning target, sources said. sector.

The emirate of Dubai announced its intention to fly with its first 777X in June 2020, a date now widely questioned.

Boeing CFO Greg Smith, told a conference that the commissioning in 2020 remained "the current assumption", echoing the comments of general manager Dennis Muilenburg last week.

"The long pole in the tent is the GE engine," Smith said. "They have some difficulties to test. So we have to do new tests and they do it. "

The large aircraft market has been fragile due to oversupply and fears over the economy and trade disputes. Reuters announced in March that a major potential deal with more than 100 Boeing-type airliners with China was in doubt as a result of the trade conflict and the MAX crisis.

The first two 777X flight test aircraft have departed the Boeing plant in the Seattle area and are testing their integrated ground systems, while the next two flight test aircraft are in final assembly, said Muilenburg.

But technical problems and other problems have reduced the prospects of an inaugural flight at the end of June, despite the predictions last weekend of the head of the airline Gulf, Emirates, for June 26.

An airline familiar with the program said the flight test program was originally set at 14 months, but a thorough review of aircraft certification after two accidents with the 737 MAX in October and March makes it this program is unlikely to be accelerated.

This means that the 777X will likely be delivered to airlines by the end of 2020 and that this date may well slide in 2021, airline sources said at an industry rally in Seoul this week .

GE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

GE began the turbine engine test flight, the largest in the world, in March after a three-month delay caused mainly by a compressor problem.

(This story has been redefined to remove the allocation under the executive).