United Airlines is really having some bad luck with one of its newest Boeing 787-9s, which also features the carrier’s brand new interiors. The plane has had an incredible number of maintenance issues since entering service, to the point that the plane was sent back to Boeing to be repaired. After around 10 days with Boeing, the plane returned to service… only to still have issues.
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United’s “broken” Boeing 787 is still broken, even after being fixed
United Airlines is currently taking delivery of a large number of brand new Boeing 787-9s, which are in a premium configuration, and feature the carrier’s new “United Elevate” interiors, with a new experience across cabins.
N61101 is the registration code for United’s first new Boeing 787-9 with these interiors, and it also has the United 100th anniversary decal on it. On the return portion of the plane’s first-ever international flight, to Singapore (SIN), it encountered a maintenance issue, to the point that the plane had to divert, and then be ferried back to United’s maintenance facility in San Francisco (SFO) without passengers.
Unfortunately even after that, things didn’t get better. In June, I covered how the plane had issue after issue, to the point that it spent more time on the ground than in the air. The situation got so bad that on June 20, 2026, the plane flew to Moses Lake (MWH), which is a Boeing maintenance base.
Clearly United mechanics couldn’t figure out what was going on, so the plane was returned to Boeing. Well, the plane spent around 10 days with Boeing, before once again returning to San Francisco on June 30, 2026.
You’d assume things would be good from there, but on July 2, 2026, the plane flew to London (LHR). While that flight operated as planned, the return flight on July 3 was canceled due to a maintenance issue. Now the plane is expected to be once again ferried back to San Francisco empty, flying today, July 4, 2026.
This is obviously embarrassing — not for United, but for Boeing, since one assumes this somehow reflects an issue with Boeing’s production process, or something.
The issue with this Boeing 787 revolves around TCAS
What exactly is wrong with this particular United Dreamliner? The issue reportedly revolves around TCAS. For those not familiar, TCAS stands for Traffic Collision Avoidance System, and it’s supposed to help pilots avoid midair collisions.
These alerts come in the form of either TAs (Traffic Advisories), which alert pilots of other planes nearby, or RAs (Resolution Advisories), which give specific instructions about which action pilots should take. It goes without saying that this is a very important safety feature for planes, and TCAS saves lives.
As reported by JonNYC, it’s believed that both antennas were replaced by Boeing in Moses Lake, and that this would resolve the issue. However, clearly that wasn’t the case, based on how quickly the plane was taken out of service again.
Here’s something that’s beyond my area of knowledge, and which I can’t otherwise make sense of — as I understand it, airplanes have endless redundant systems in place so that pilots are alerted if something isn’t working as it should be. How is it that they performed test flights in Moses Lake and thought the plane was safe to reenter service, only to have the same problem arise again?
Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see what happens next. I imagine this plane is headed back to Moses Lake, and then we’ll see what happens from there. I don’t want to draw too many conclusions, but it sure seems like Boeing production quality isn’t what it once was.
Bottom line
One of United’s newest Dreamliners has been plagued by endless maintenance issues, ever since entering service. The carrier’s return international inaugural flight diverted for a maintenance issue, and stuff hasn’t improved since then. A couple of weeks ago, the plane was sent to Boeing to be repaired… only to once again have issues on the return portion of its first international trip.
The problem reportedly revolves round TCAS, which is a very important feature to help pilots in the most critical of situations. It’s going to be interesting to see how long it takes Boeing to fix this. I’d also be fascinated to know how exactly reimbursement works in these kinds of situations, between Boeing and United.
What do you make of the issues with this United Dreamliner?
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