SEATTLE/PARIS, April 20 (Reuters) – Boeing Co (BA.N) has advised key airlines and parts suppliers that 787 Dreamliner deliveries would resume in the second half of 2022, a crucial landmark for an industry eager for a post-COVID recovery, three people familiar with the matter said.
Boeing’s swollen 787 inventory, amassed since it halted deliveries nearly a year ago over structural flaws, has locked up desperately needed cash and cut airline capacity.
Resuming deliveries is also key to Boeing’s plans for step-by-step 787 production increases in the coming months – vital to propping up a supply chain that has weathered successive crises. read more
A once-envisioned delivery target of April has already been pushed back to May with the expectation of further delays, the people said, as Boeing undertakes painstaking inspections and repairs for structural flaws in some 100 of the advanced composite jets, under scrutiny from more assertive U.S. air-safety regulators. read more
Boeing has stopped making public predictions on when it will win approval to resume deliveries. Boeing pegged the overall cost of the industrial snarl at $5.5 billion. read more
Two people familiar with the matter said that Boeing has told airlines that deliveries would resume during the second half of this year. One of the people added that a restart during the third quarter of 2022 was realistic. The people and other industry sources cautioned that targets have repeatedly slipped.
A Boeing spokesperson declined to comment, saying the FAA would determine when deliveries resume.
“As we’ve said, we are taking the time needed to ensure conformance to our exacting specifications,” the spokesperson said.
“Safety dictates the timeline,” an FAA spokesperson said. Read more
