Chicago, March 19, (tca/dpa/GNA) – The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Wednesday said it will inspect four newly-produced 787 Dreamline jets, stripping off the company’s authority to sign off the jets.
“The FAA is taking a number of corrective actions to address Boeing 787 production issues,” the agency said in a statement.
“One of the actions is retaining the authority to issue airworthiness certificates for four 787 aircraft. The FAA can retain the authority to issue airworthiness certificates for additional 787 aircraft if we see the need,” the statement continued.
The FAA has tightened the scrutiny of Boeing 787 Dreamliners just four months after the agency lifted a 20-month flight ban on Boeing’s best-selling 737 Max, which was grounded in March 2019 after two deadly crashes in five months.
The FAA also retained its authority to sign off on Boeing 737 Max planes that Boeing produced since the grounding.
Previously, the FAA allowed Boeing to sign off on its behalf, allowing the company to issue the airworthiness certificates.
In response to FAA’s latest statement, Boeing said it is “encouraged” by the progress made on rectifying production issues.
“We are encouraged by the progress our team is making on returning to delivery activities for the 787 program,” Boeing said.
“We have engaged the FAA throughout this effort and will implement their direction for airworthiness certification approval of the initial airplanes as they have done in the past.”
GNA