An employee works on the tail of Boeing Co.’s Dreamliner 787 aircraft on the production line at Boeing’s North Charleston, South Carolina, final assembly plant.
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Boeing It warned on Tuesday that a new defect in its 787 Dreamliner would delay deliveries of the wide-body jet, the latest production problem for the maker.
“We are inspecting 787 aircraft in our inventory for nonconformities related to horizontal stabilizer components,” Boeing said in a statement. “Airplanes found to have nonconformities will be reworked prior to ticketing and delivery. .”
The problem Boeing detected was related to a tiny gap in the horizontal stabilizer. Boeing said it had nothing to do with flight safety and that in-service planes could continue to operate. Near-term deliveries will be delayed by about two weeks, Boeing said.
The problem is the latest in a string of Boeing manufacturing problems that have slowed, if not completely suspended, some plane deliveries, as airlines have clamored for new planes to take advantage of the travel boom.
Boeing suspended deliveries of the plane for several weeks earlier this year due to separate problems with some 787 airframe components. The latest installment does not currently affect Boeing’s full-year outlook for Dreamliner deliveries, the company said. Boeing estimates that 70 to 80 of the planes will be delivered this year.
The company also had to rework some of its best-selling 737 Max planes this year because of problems with fittings on some of the planes’ tail fuselages. Spirit Aviation Systems.
Boeing shares fell sharply on the news, but largely recovered and were recently down less than 1% in afternoon trading.
