Federal air-safety regulators plan to inspect and sign off on individual 787 Dreamliner jets, versus allowing manufacturer Boeing Co. to perform those routine tasks, another hurdle in the plane maker’s bid to resume deliveries of the wide-body jets. Dreamliner deliveries have largely been halted since October 2020 as Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration address various manufacturing defects on the aircraft. The plane maker had 110 undelivered jets worth more than $25 billion in inventory at the end of last year.
“The FAA’s decision to retain its authority to check the airplanes itself and approve jets for passenger flights, rather than delegate the tasks to Boeing as it has in the past, is another layer of scrutiny by the agency. “This will allow the agency to confirm the effectiveness of measures Boeing has undertaken to improve the 787 manufacturing process,”the FAA said. The FAA said it would retain the authority until the agency is confident Boeing’s quality-control and production processes meet federal design standards,
Excerpted from The Wall Street Journal (print edition) February 16, 2022
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