Federal air safety regulators stripped Boeing Co.
BA 3.28%
the company’s authority to inspect and approve several newly produced 787 Dreamliners, part of a close examination of the production problems that interrupted deliveries of the popular wide-body jets.
The Federal Aviation Administration said that its inspectors, instead of aircraft manufacturers, would perform routine safety checks prior to the delivery of four Dreamliners that Boeing has not been able to deliver to customers of its airlines for months while grappling with several lapses of flight. quality.
The agency has long authorized Boeing to carry out final safety approvals on behalf of the FAA, allowing it to issue what are known as certificates of airworthiness required to deliver new jets to airlines. The FAA said it had denied the same authority on some of the planes in previous years to keep inspectors’ skills up to date.
Now, the FAA said its decision to retain final approval authority was part of a broader set of actions aimed at Boeing’s 787 production problems. A spokesman said the agency could decide that its own inspectors would sign more Dreamliners. “We can extend restraint to other 787 aircraft if we feel it is necessary,” he said.
A Boeing spokesman said on Wednesday that the company hired the FAA in its efforts to resume deliveries of the Dreamliner and would follow the agency’s instructions in final approvals as it did in the past. The spokesman said Boeing was “encouraged by the progress that our team is making” in restarting deliveries.
After stopping deliveries in October, Boeing has accumulated a stock of more than 80 newly produced and undelivered Dreamliners, according to aviation consultancy Ascend by Cirium. Boeing said it expects to resume deliveries by the end of March.
Wide-body jets have an excellent safety record and are used frequently on international routes. Boeing learned of the FAA’s move in January and has already considered FAA approvals in its expected delivery schedule, said a person familiar with Boeing planning.
Among the specific aircraft scheduled for final approval by the agency’s inspectors are two Dreamliners ordered by United Airlines Holdings Inc.
United expects to receive the planes in late March or early April, said a person familiar with the plans of the Chicago-based operator this week.
The Boeing spokesman said the manufacturer would adjust its delivery plans, if necessary, so that it could take time to conduct comprehensive inspections of the 787 “to ensure that each meets our stringent engineering specifications”.
The suspension of deliveries has cut a significant source of money paid by customers as the plane maker faces the Covid-19 pandemic and weak demand for global air travel. Bernstein analyst Doug Harned estimated that slowing Dreamliner deliveries could cost Boeing up to $ 8 billion in cash flow by 2020 and 2021. He expects half of that to be recovered next year, as airlines receive delivery and pay the rest of the cost.
Boeing said in January that it would likely continue to burn cash this year, but has adequate liquidity after raising billions of dollars in debt last year. Investors’ optimism about the broader recovery in travel helped raise their shares by 21% last week. The shares gained an additional 3.3% on Wednesday, valuing Boeing at $ 149 billion.
Although limited in scope, the FAA’s move on the Dreamliner is similar to a move the agency took after two Boeing 737 MAX jet crashes killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019.
The FAA stripped Boeing of its authority to carry out pre-delivery safety checks on MAX jets in late 2019. At the time, a defective flight control system and production-related errors with that aircraft were under scrutiny by Congress and the United States. regulatory authorities. The FAA approved the 737 MAX to resume passenger flights last year.
Dreamliner lapses are among several quality problems that Boeing has faced in recent years in its commercial, defense and space programs.
Many of the 787’s quality lapses involve small gaps where sections of the jet’s fuselage, or airplane body, come together. Problems have arisen elsewhere, too, including the vertical fin and the horizontal stabilizer on the tail, according to a March 12 FAA summary of the agency’s regulatory actions seen by The Wall Street Journal.
Boeing had previously reported problems with a factory process used to generate small chocks – materials used to fill the small gaps where sections of the aircraft are joined. These gaps can lead to possible premature fatigue of certain parts of the aircraft, and may require extensive repairs during routine and long-term maintenance.
In its summary, the agency said it would retain its Dreamliner approval authority “until it is confirmed that all shimming problems have been resolved and the planes are in compliance with the FAA approved project.”
Write to Andrew Tangel at [email protected]
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