Boeing's Delivery Of New 787 Dreamliners May Not Be Delivered Till Late Oct: WSJ

Boeing Co's BA delivery of 787 Dreamliners will likely remain halted until at least late October, WSJ reports.  

What Happened: Boeing has been unable to persuade air-safety regulators to approve its aircraft inspection proposal.

In July, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that some undelivered Boeing 787s have a new manufacturing quality issue the company needs to fix before shipment.

In August, Boeing met with the FAA and requested the agency approve an inspection method that would speed deliveries with targeted checks rather than nose-to-tail teardowns.

However, the regulators flagged internal company disagreements over the aircraft sample size and repeated that Boeing's employee group, which acts as an in-house regulator, needs to concur with the company's proposals.

Boeing said it had about 100 jets in its inventory awaiting delivery at the end of June. List prices for Dreamliners start around $250 million, but customers typically pay about half that after customary discounts. 

Why It Matters: The FAA has already fined Boeing $17 million over 737 MAX production mistakes and asked the company to undertake multiple corrective actions to improve quality control in building the 737. 

Boeing's 737 MAX and 787 have been afflicted by electrical defects and other issues since late last year, and it only resumed deliveries of the 787 in March after a five-month hiatus.

With delivery delays, the company is facing increasing financial challenges as a growing number of deliveries become delayed by a year or more. 

Aviation data provider Ascend by Cirium estimates that 54, or about half, of the Dreamliners in Boeing's inventory could be at risk by Oct. 1 of aircraft buyers walking away from the purchase, reports the newspaper. 

Image by WikimediaImages from Pixabay