Aerospace giant Boeing will be allowed to resume 787 Dreamliner deliveries “in the coming days,” after US air safety regulators announced Monday that the company had changed its manufacturing process.
Boeing’s best-selling widebody has been on hold since the spring of 2021, but the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the company “has made the necessary changes to ensure that the 787 Dreamliner meets all certification standards.”
As acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, Billy Nolen met with safety inspectors in South Carolina last week to ensure their satisfaction and to identify potential risks following the discovery of defects on a plane.
According to the statement, the FAA will inspect each aircraft before issuing an airworthiness certificate and clearing it for delivery. A resumption of deliveries has been predicted.
Since the company discovered manufacturing flaws with some 787s in late summer of 2020, the 787 has had problems. Additional problems with the horizontal stabilizer were later discovered by Boeing.
Deliveries were halted from November 2020 to March 2021 because of technical difficulties. Boeing put a halt to further shipments later in the spring of 2021 as new issues emerged.
However, Boeing has not yet received final FAA approval to resume 787 deliveries, a company spokesman said in a statement to the AFP news agency.
CEO Dave Calhoun described the company’s prospects for approval during a July 27 earnings conference call, but he refused to give a specific target date.
There are currently 120 Dreamliner planes in inventory and Boeing is making them “at very low rates,” according to a filing from the company.