In late January, Boeing suspended deliveries of the 787, which wasn’t good news for airlines relying on these new planes to operate their schedules. The good news is that Boeing has just received the green light to resume these deliveries. Let’s go over the basics of what happened.
Boeing 787 deliveries delayed due to “analysis error”
In late January, Boeing suspended deliveries of the 787 Dreamliner, so that the company can do additional analysis on a fuselage component. The company hasn’t delivered a 787 since January 26, and it couldn’t resume deliveries until it could show the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that it has resolved the issue.
During this period, Boeing has continued production of the 787, and hasn’t anticipated that the issue would require additional work on the planes. Here’s how Boeing described this in a statement:
“In reviewing certification records, Boeing discovered an analysis error by our supplier related to the 787 forward pressure bulkhead. We notified the FAA and have paused 787 deliveries while we complete the required analysis and documentation.”
“There is no immediate safety of flight concern for the in-service fleet. We are communicating with our customers and will continue to follow the lead of the FAA. While near-term deliveries will be impacted, at this time we do not anticipate a change to our production and delivery outlook for the year.”
Boeing can now resume 787 deliveries
As reported by Reuters, there’s a positive development here. The FAA has today approved Boeing resuming 787 deliveries as of next week. Boeing has completed the analysis needed to confirm that aircraft meet requirements, and no further production or fleet action is required to meet FAA standards.
Boeing is now coordinating with customers to resume 787 deliveries.
Boeing 787 deliveries had only recently resumed
Boeing hasn’t been having much luck with delivering 787s in a timely fashion. In May 2021, Boeing had to suspend deliveries of the 787, and deliveries only resumed in August 2022, so that lasted for well over a year.
That issue was due to production flaws related to gaps between panels of the carbon-composite fuselage. In addition to the production issues as such, the other problem was in regards to the FAA’s oversight of the delivery of these jets, so a more transparent and regulated inspection process had to be figured out there as well. Even prior to that, Boeing also had to suspend deliveries for five months in 2020.
While it’s normal for there to be some delays with aircraft manufacturing and delivery (given how complex it is), Boeing hasn’t had much luck the past several years between its 737 MAXs and 787 Dreamliners. Fortunately the issues this time around didn’t last for nearly as long.
Bottom line
For the past several weeks, Boeing has had to halt deliveries of the 787, due to an “analysis error” by a supplier related to the forward pressure bulkhead. Fortunately this issue has now been resolved, and the FAA has given Boeing permission to resume 787 deliveries as of next week.
It’s normal for airlines to plan their networks based on future aircraft deliveries, so it’s good that the delay here didn’t last longer this time around.
What do you make of deliveries of the Boeing 787 once again being resumed?
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