Boeing: Newly-discovered structural issues forced the planemaker to cut production of its 787 jets

Boeing hit another snag as it tries to get back on track following the grounding of its planes due to the series of crashes in 2018 and 2019. While the company started getting new orders for jets again, it may have to halt its deliveries after it was revealed that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) discovered new issues in one of its plane models.

On Monday, July 12, the FAA said that some of the undelivered Boeing 787 Dreamliners were found to have manufacturing quality issues that were not present before. Then again, the agency assured that Boeing would be fixing the affected planes before their delivery.

The new structural issues in Boeing 787s

According to Reuters, the new quality problem was detected during a system-wide inspection of Boeing 787 shimming processes that is part of FAA’s requirements. Based on the information, the issue with some of the 787 Dreamliners was found near the nose.

The aviation agency will determine if the same repairs are needed to be done on the Boeing 787s that are already flying commercially. The FAA will base its decision on the available data related to the issue. It was noted that this is the latest production problem that Boeing is facing with its Dreamliner model.

After the discovery of the new quality issues, Boeing will be cutting down its production rate for the 787s. The cut will be in effect as the company works through the defect, and probably, it will resume the normal production rate once the problem has been addressed.

Reduction of plane deliveries

The American plane manufacturer did not say how much of the production rate that it is cutting, but it mentioned that the temporary slow down in production is below the current rate of five jets per month.

Boeing said it is expecting to deliver fewer than half of 100 of the 787 Dreamliners. It will now be focusing on further inspections to make sure that it will deliver the planes of the highest quality after addressing the flaws.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Boeing estimated that it will take at least three weeks for the defect to be fixed. This means that customers who are expecting plane deliveries will not be getting their orders until next month or later than that.