The first commercial flight of the Qantas Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft on 15 December 2017 in Melbourne, Australia.
James D. Morgan | Getty Images
The Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday that it would inspect four of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner aircraft itself, rather than delegate that work to Boeing, after production issues surfaced last year.
“The FAA is taking a number of corrective steps to address Boeing 787 production issues,” the agency said in a statement. “One of the actions is to retain the authority to issue airworthiness certificates for four 787 aircraft. The FAA may retain the authority to issue airworthiness certificates for additional 787 aircraft if we see the need.”
The increased investigation by the Dreamliners comes four months after the FAA lifted a 20-month flight ban on Boeing’s top-selling 737 Max, which the regulator founded in March 2019 after two fatal accidents in five months. The FAA also retained its authority to sign off Max aircraft that Boeing has produced since its inception.
Boeing announced problems with some seams on the plane in September.
The FAA told Boeing in January that it would give the final sign off on the planes, according to a letter seen by CNBC. It was reported earlier by Bloomberg News. Boeing said it still expects to resume delivery of the aircraft later this month.
““We are encouraged by the progress our team is making in returning to delivery activities for the 787 program,” Boeing said in the past.
Although these latest Dreamliner checks came in response to production issues, the FAA said it has conducted final airworthiness checks on approximately 787s over the past few years “so that FAA inspectors can meet their requirements for inspection currency.”