A Boeing 787 Dreamliner sits on the tarmac at Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington.
Robert Sorbo Reuters
Boeing expects supply delays to make up for parts that have cut production of its 787 jet to below five-month levels, as the US planemaker looks to restore output from its two main commercial programs by the end of the year.
Boeing and European rival Airbus are struggling to meet strong demand for airline jets as they grapple with problems in supply chains and factories.
Those concerns will cast a shadow over the Farnborough Airshow from July 22 to 26, despite strong travel demand.
Earlier this year, Boeing lowered 787 output to allow “suppliers to catch up to us,” a company executive told reporters during a June visit to its widebody 777 factory in Everett, Washington State.
“Our plan is to go back to five months later this year again as we see that the supply of incoming parts is back to where it needs to be,” said Scott Stocker, vice president and general manager of the 787 program in South Carolina.
Boeing executives told reporters that the company is taking similar steps to improve employee feedback and production quality on widebody jets that fly long international routes as the single-aisle 737 MAX.
The plane maker is under heightened legal and regulatory scrutiny after a door plug explosion on its new 737 MAX 9 was blamed on a missing bolt. Boeing said it would restore 737 output to about 38 by the end of the year after production of its best-selling jet slowed.
I called 20 hotels and they said, ‘No, we’re booked, sorry.’
While the planemaker scored a boost for widebodies by starting certification flight tests this month on the long-delayed 777-9, delays in the supply of seats and heat exchangers created separate challenges for the 787.
Stocker said a separate problem with fasteners on the Dreamliner revealed by Reuters in June had no impact at the current rate.
Stocker also said Boeing had conducted a thorough analysis of its fleet, after the planemaker was alerted earlier this year by employees that certain tests it had not performed had been completed. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has opened an investigation.
“We’ve found that we need to go back and finish some of the unfinished business, you know, properly,” he said. “The investigation is ongoing but good progress has been made.”
Boeing has halted deliveries of the 787 widebody jet for more than a year until August 2022 as the FAA investigates quality issues and manufacturing defects.
The planemaker, however, is looking for higher Dreamliner production, after setting a target level of 10 per month for the Dreamliner in the 2025-2026 period at the 2022 investor day.
Stocker did not specify long-term targets: “We are planning to go up in rates over the next few years,”
