New Report: DOJ Prosecutors Probing 787 Dreamliner Production

At the same time the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is conducting an investigation into the Boeing 737 MAX crashes, a new report says that they are also subpoenaeing records from the production of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner.

According to a report in the Seattle Times, “allegations of shoddy work” at Boeing’s South Carolina assembly plant are the reason for the DOJ widening its investigation into Boeing. The report cites two unnamed sources familiar with the investigation.

Both the MAX and the Dreamliner are assembled at the South Carolina plant, which was the subject of a New York Times investigation earlier this year.

Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner has not made the same headlines that its 737 MAX has, but some incidents involving the airline have still made waves, including a 2013 grounding by the FAA following two battery overheating incidents. The FAA initially grounded the jets in January 2013 following the battery issues, but lifted the grounding in April 2013 and the jets returned to service.

The DOJ has not pulled the Dreamliner from the skies; and no airlines that have the jet — including United Airlines, WestJet, Air Canada, Air France, and American Airlines — have pulled it from their fleets. Boeing has produced a total of 850 of the 787 Dreamliner aircraft since 2017.

The DOJ’s criminal investigation into the two Boeing 737 MAX crashes earlier this year continues as those jets remain grounded. Last week, the FAA announced that it had identified a new software glitch that Boeing must fix before the 737 MAX can fly again. 

The glitch means that the jets will likely be grounded until after the summer travel season —United Airlines has already pushed back the scheduled return of its MAX jets until September and Southwest has done the same until at least October.