Boeing has again suspended delivery of its 787 long-haul aircraft, already stopped for several months in 2021 and 2022 for poor workmanship, in order to analyze a fuselage element more closely, the American aviation supervising agency said on Thursday. (FAA). “Deliveries will not resume until the FAA is satisfied that the problem has been resolved”, specifies the agency in a message sent to AFP, stressing that it was working with the American aircraft manufacturer “to determine the actions that may be required for recently delivered aircraft”.
The group’s share fell 3% in electronic trading after the announcement. Boeing did not immediately respond to a request from AFP. The 787 Dreamliner has faced several pitfalls in recent years. Manufacturing defects were discovered at the end of summer 2020. The device being closely examined, other problems then appeared. Boeing had to suspend deliveries, from November 2020 to March 2021 initially, then between May 2021 and August 2022. And reduce production rates.
The aircraft manufacturer in turmoil
But after deliveries resumed last summer, Boeing was able to deliver 31 in 2022, including 22 in the fourth quarter. And in December, United Airlines announced plans to order 100 787 aircraft while optioning an additional 100.
In January, however, the manufacturer delivered only three. After the two fatal accidents of the 737 MAX and the flight ban of the aircraft for twenty months, the massive slowdown in air traffic with the pandemic, and the production problems on the 787, Boeing is counting on deliveries of this aircraft to recover financially.
Since its arrival on the market at the beginning of the decade, this device has accumulated a number of setbacks. It arrived several years late and a succession of defects led to the grounding of the entire fleet in 2013. Problems with the brakes, cracked windscreen, fire starting due to a battery were among the difficulties . These new problems with the Dreamliner come in an already particularly complicated context for Boeing.