Boeing could be set to restart deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner aircraft after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reportedly approved a repair and inspection plan developed by the beleagured aircraft manufacturer.
The Chicago-headquartered aerospace giant has a delivery backlog of 120 Dreamliners that have piled up since the FAA put a halt to new deliveries in May 2021 due to structural flaws found in the aircraft and concerns over Boeing’s inspection process.
In recent weeks, Boeing has openly said it was close to winning approval from the FAA to restart deliveries and production of its 787 model. The first delivery is expected to be American Airlines if two sources quoted by Reuters are correct.
Boeing says it is working to “finalize actions” that will allow the Dreamliner program to resume and is already “readying airplanes for delivery”.
Once approval has been officially granted, it will take some time for Boeing to ramp up production and it could be months before the manufacturer is able to scale up to five Dreamliners per month as planned.
Boeing has already taken a hit of $3.5 billion as a result of the 787 program being suspended and a further $1 billion in costs could arise from fixing production flaws.
Both Boeing and the FAA declined to comment Friday’s rumors that 787 deliveries would soon be approved.
How is it that the FAA finds the flaws and Boeing didn’t? Or were they hiding / ignoring it?