Boeing Co has resumed deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner jets, handing over one aircraft to United Airlines on Friday, an preliminary step because the US planemaker works by way of manufacturing defects that sidelined dozens of plane.
Reuters reported final week that Boeing remained on track to renew deliveries of some 787s this month, which a Boeing spokeswoman mentioned remained the aim.
The supply from its South Carolina manufacturing unit comes as Boeing undertakes painstaking repairs and forensic inspections to repair structural integrity flaws embedded deep inside dozens of 787s, points which halted deliveries since October, slicing off a key supply of money.
The inspections and retrofits may take as much as a month per aircraft and are more likely to price lots of of tens of millions – if not billions – of {dollars}, relying on the variety of planes throughout the fleet which might be impacted and the defects concerned, sources advised Reuters.
“We have resumed 787 deliveries, following several months of engineering analysis and inspection work,” Boeing spokeswoman Jessica Kowal mentioned by e-mail.
A United Airlines consultant didn’t instantly return a request for remark.
Separately final week, the US Federal Aviation Administration determined to independently deal with remaining pre-delivery checks on 4 787 jets, within the newest sign of the company’s more durable scrutiny of Boeing after two deadly 737 MAX crashes.
The United Airlines 787 was a type of 4 FAA-inspected planes.
