Boeing gets FAA go-ahead for plan to resume deliveries of 787 Dreamliner
Federal regulators on Friday cleared the way for Boeing to restart deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner, which was halted more than a year ago due to quality problems.
Boeing had submitted a plan to the Federal Aviation Administration this spring to inspect and repair those problems, which the agency approved Friday in a major milestone on the road to delivering the planes, according to a person familiar with the decision, which was not authorized of the agency to share the news. The FAA will still inspect the jets before they are handed over to Boeing customers.
The Dreamliner aircraft is a double-aisle aircraft typically used for long international flights and is an important part of Boeing̵[ads1]7;s fleet. It appeals to airlines in part because it is more fuel efficient than older wide-body aircraft.
The delivery delay had cost both Boeing and its customers. In January, Boeing estimated the cost of making the repairs and compensating customers for the delay to be about $3.5 billion. Earlier this year, American Airlines said the supply freeze had forced it to cut several international routes it had planned to fly this summer.
The quality concerns included finding and filling paper-thin holes in the plane’s body, replacing certain titanium parts that were made with the wrong material, and other fixes. None have an immediate impact on the safety of Dreamliners flying today, Boeing said.
Boeing has already begun inspecting and repairing its inventory of about 120 Dreamliners, but it was not immediately clear how soon the company would be able to start shipping the aircraft to customers again. An American executive said earlier this month that it expected to begin receiving parts of the Dreamliner order as soon as early August.
Boeing had already signaled earlier this week that they were close to restarting deliveries. “We are preparing airplanes with our customers and have completed flight checks on the first airplanes,” Brian West, Boeing’s chief financial officer, said on a call with investor analysts and reporters.
An FAA spokeswoman declined to comment on the decision. In a brief statement, Boeing said it would “continue to work openly” with the agency and its customers to restart deliveries.
Boeing said this week it aimed to return to producing five Dreamliners a month, down from the 14 it assembled each month before the pandemic.
