The resumption of deliveries of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner family of aircraft could be just around the corner after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved quality control plans and modifications on Friday (29), according to a Reuters report.
This would put an end to 15 months of paralysis in a key product for both the manufacturer and the airline industry, at a time when the post-pandemic recovery is advancing month by month.
According to close sources quoted by Reuters, the FAA «approved Boeing’s proposal requiring specific inspections to verify that the aircraft’s condition meets requirements and that all work has been completed.» This would allow deliveries to resume from August.
There is no mention of whether this will mean that Boeing will once again have the power to certify the airworthiness of each 787 leaving its plant, which was withdrawn in February of this year. In this way, it would be the FAA that would be in charge, as they said on that occasion, of inspecting and approving each aircraft individually to «confirm the effectiveness of the measures that Boeing has implemented with a view to improving the 787 manufacturing process.»
«The scrutiny will continue until there is assurance that Boeing’s quality control and production processes comply with federal design standards,» the FAA said in February.
The FAA did not comment on Friday, and Boeing only told Reuters that «we will continue to work transparently with the FAA and our customers to resume deliveries of the 787».
In the presentation of the second quarter 2022 financial results that took place this week, Brian West, Boeing’s Chief Financial Officer, said that they have 120 787 aircraft in inventory and that they were carrying out the necessary tasks to prepare them for delivery.
Regarding new aircraft, he said they are at a very low production rate, which they will maintain until deliveries resume, then gradually ramp up to a rate of five aircraft per month.
The first 787 to be delivered since the May 2021 hiatus would be for American Airlines, which had to review its long-haul schedule this summer as it originally expected to have thirteen 787s in its fleet.
Since entering service in 2011, 1,006 Boeing 787s have been delivered out of a total of 1,482 aircraft ordered.
