Report: Boeing Slowing Delivery of 787 Dreamliner Because of Production Issue

Boeing is reportedly slowing the delivery of its 787 Dreamliner aircraft because of a new production flaw found on some aircraft before delivery.

According to a statement made to CNBC, Boeing is now “inspecting 787s in our inventory for a nonconforming condition related to a fitting on the horizontal stabilizer. Airplanes found to have a nonconforming condition will be reworked prior to ticket and delivery.”

The issue is not a safety issue, but rather an issue with a fitting on the 787’s horizontal stabilizer. All of the 787 Dreamliners that have already finished production will now have to be inspected again, which will slow the company’s production line. It already stopped deliveries of those aircraft suspected to have the flaw on Friday.

The aircraft that Boeing has already delivered will be able to continue to operate and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that the issue is not a safety issue and that there was danger in continuing to operate those already in service.

Reuters is reporting that Boeing on said it will still deliver 70 to 80 Dreamliners this year, even with the two weeks needed to fix each aircraft.

The news is far from the first time in recent memory that Boeing has been impacted by issues with production.

The 787s in particular have caused issues for Boeing—the company was forced to stop almost all deliveries of the jet in fall of 2020 because of quality defects found inside their fuselages, a stoppage that lasted through August 2022 and cost Boeing more than $6.3 billion. Then, another glitch forced Boeing to halt deliveries for a short period of time in February.

In April, Boeing announced it would have to repair another model, a number of 737 MAX aircraft, its best-selling model, because of a flat fitting issue.