Boeing faces new Dreamliner production problem

A new production issue has emerged with Boeing Co.’s 787 Dreamliner, likely further delaying deliveries of popular widebody jets, people familiar with the matter said.

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Boeing expects the newly discovered flaw to take at least three weeks to resolve, some of those people say. This means that its customers may not get new Dreamliners for much of the traditionally busy summer season.

Boeing stopped handing Dreamliners to airlines in late May, after federal aviation safety regulators refused to approve the aircraft manufacturer’s proposed method of inspecting planes for previously disclosed production defects. This was the second such break in the past year.

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It was not immediately clear how the current shutdown would affect Boeing Dreamliner production, but someone familiar with the matter said the company would have to slow its previously disclosed monthly production to five aircraft in order to resolve quality issues.

Boeing declined to comment.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the recently discovered quality issue posed no immediate safety threat. While the agency will determine whether changes need to be made to the 787s already in service, the FAA said, “Boeing is committed to repairing these planes before resuming deliveries.”

The Dreamliner’s current delivery halt follows a five-month delivery hiatus, from last fall through this spring. This has led to a stack of around 100 planes by the end of April, many of which Boeing hopes to deliver by the end of the year.

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The delivery hiatus has been another setback for the aerospace giant, which has struggled with various issues in its commercial, defense and space programs in recent years. It also stifles a key source of cash as Boeing tries to overcome twin crises resulting from two fatal crashes to its 737 MAX aircraft in late 2018 and early 2019 and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on aircraft demand .

The new issue emerged on a part of the plane known as the front pressure bulkhead on the front of the plane, people familiar with the matter said. It involves the skin of the aircraft and is similar to a previously disclosed Dreamliner issue elsewhere on aircraft, one of those people said. It surfaced as part of the FAA’s review of Boeing’s quality controls on newly produced undelivered aircraft, the person said.

The new issue did not raise any immediate safety concerns, but Boeing and FAA engineers are trying to understand the potential for the defect to cause premature fatigue on a key part of the aircraft’s structure, people said. close to the file.

At the end of May, Boeing again halted Dreamliner deliveries after the FAA refused to approve the method proposed by the aircraft maker by using a combination of analysis and physical inspections to check Dreamliners for quality issues. newly produced. The agency asked for more data to support Boeing’s proposal.

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The recent Boeing 787 production issues arose last year. A combination of faults prompted Boeing to voluntarily stop eight of the planes in service. The FAA has launched an extensive review of the manufacturer’s factory processes. Boeing expanded its inspections and finally resumed deliveries at the end of March.

Before ending Dreamliner deliveries more recently, the aircraft maker delivered a total of 12 Dreamliners this year at the end of May, according to aviation data firm Ascend by Cirium.