Various production challenges have plagued the Boeing 787 Dreamliner over the last year, causing the company to halt new aircraft deliveries to consumers. Now, as the manufacturer tries to address flaws found in the wide-body aircraft, the expenses of doing so could cost billions of dollars.
According to Reuters, the airplane manufacturer said, “Some titanium 787 Dreamliner parts were improperly manufactured over the past three years, the latest in a series of problems to plague the wide-body aircraft.” This drew many comparisons to the nose cone assembly of the 737-MAX being poorly assembled, especially with radar assembly housed inside the part. But ultimately the company said that “the quality issue does not affect the immediate safety of flights, adding it had notified the Federal Aviation Administration. Boeing is working to determine how many planes contain the defective part.”
Boeing is starting to address different faults with the 787 Dreamliner. This included upgrades that might affect at least 88 stored aircraft constructed during the year. According to Reuters, costs are expected around the margin of hundreds of billions of dollars potentially. The amount could vary based on the number of aircraft and the condition of inspected 787s.
Boeing is currently investigating the scope of the aircraft’s inspections and if the 787 can be operated without causing a potential safety issue. While Boeing worked to resolve production issues that resulted in the shell of the fuselage not being as smooth as necessary, aircrafts with the defect continued to be manufactured. The problem was originally reported in August 2020, and no aircraft has been delivered since.
If the issue is found in any plane, technicians must repair defective fasteners, replace all rivets, re-paint the region, and then re-install the interior. “It’s like open-heart surgery,” a source familiar with the situation told Reuters. “They’ll continue retrofitting the fleet for several years.”
Furthermore, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered Boeing to pay 6.6 million dollars in fines to the agency. According to an FAA statement, the company failed to “meet its performance commitments under a 2015 settlement agreement.” According to the terms of the agreement, Boeing will “modify its internal systems to improve and prioritize regulatory compliance.” The FAA stated that the corporation had certain performance criteria to reach, and it had failed to meet some of them.
The FAA released a statement stating “Boeing failed to meet all of its obligations under the settlement agreement, and the FAA is holding Boeing accountable by imposing additional penalties.” The FAA’s administrator Steve Dickson added that “I have reiterated to Boeing’s leadership time and again that the company must prioritize safety and regulatory compliance, and that the FAA will always put safety first in all its decisions.”
