Â鶹´«Ã½

Skip to main content

FAA clears Boeing to resume delivery of 787 Dreamliners

Share

Boeing has cleared a key hurdle with federal regulators and could soon resume deliveries of its large 787 airliner, which has been plagued by a series of production issues since late 2020, a person familiar with the matter said Saturday.

The Federal Aviation Administration notified Boeing on Friday that it would approve the company's process for validating fixes to each plane before they are delivered to airline customers, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a decision that has not been publicly announced.

The FAA declined to comment and referred inquiries to Boeing. In a statement, Boeing said only, "We will continue to work transparently with the FAA and our customers towards resuming 787 deliveries."

Approval to resume deliveries would be a boost for Boeing, which collects a big chunk of each plane's purchase price at delivery. Boeing has accumulated a backlog of about 120 undelivered 787s. The plane, which Boeing calls the Dreamliner, lists at US$248 million to $338 million depending on size, although airlines pay far less than sticker price.

Issues with the 787 started in 2020 when small gaps were found between panels of the fuselage that are made of carbon composite material. That prompted inspections that turned up problems with a pressurization bulkhead at the front of the plane.

Boeing also had to replace titanium parts including fasteners after it was discovered that the Italian supplier used alloys that did not meet FAA standards.

Boeing has maintained that none of the issues raised immediate safety concerns.

It is not clear how long it will take Boeing to deliver all 120 backlogged planes, which were built at factories in Washington state and South Carolina. Each one will need to be cleared by the FAA.

American Airlines expects to get its first two 787s "in early August" but isn't including them in the schedule until November, the airline's chief financial officer, Derek Kerr, said last week on a call to discuss quarterly earnings.

The FAA decision to approve Boeing's retrofitting plan was first reported by Aviation Week.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

British Columbia saw a rare unanimous vote in its legislature in October 2019, when members passed a law adopting the United Nations Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, setting out standards including free, prior and informed consent for actions affecting them.

Two and a half years after losing her best friend and first love to suicide, Brooke Ford shared her story of grief and resilience at the CMHA Windsor-Essex Suicide Awareness Walk.

A pedestrian has died after reportedly getting struck by an OPP cruiser in Bala early Sunday morning.

opinion

opinion How to make the most out of your TFSA

The Tax-Free Savings Account can be a powerful savings tool and investment vehicle. Financial contributor Christopher Liew explains how they work and how to take full advantage of them so you can reach your financial goals faster.

Local Spotlight

When a group of B.C. filmmakers set out on a small fishing boat near Powell River last week, they hoped to capture some video for a documentary on humpback whales. What happened next blew their minds.

A tale about a taxicab hauling gold and sinking through the ice on Larder Lake, Ont., in December 1937 has captivated a man from that town for decades.

A pizza chain in Edmonton claims to have the world's largest deliverable pizza.

Sarah McLachlan is returning to her hometown of Halifax in November.

Wayne MacKay is still playing basketball twice at Mount Allison University at 87 years old.

A man from a small rural Alberta town is making music that makes people laugh.

An Indigenous artist has a buyer-beware warning ahead of Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Police are looking to the public for help after thieves broke into a Lethbridge ice creamery, stealing from the store.

An ordinary day on the job delivering mail in East Elmwood quickly turned dramatic for Canada Post letter carrier Jared Plourde. A woman on his route was calling out in distress.

Stay Connected