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- The FAA told Boeing that it will not hand over authority to certify 787 Dreamliners for flight.
- Boeing suspended deliveries of the airliners last May after the FAA raised concerns.
- The manufacturer has come under scrutiny in recent years for a number of manufacturing flaws.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will retain the power to approve Boeing 787 Dreamliners for flight, instead of returning approval power to the aircraft manufacturer.
Boeing suspended deliveries of the 787 planes last May after the FAA raised concerns over problems with the manufacturing and inspection of the aircraft. The deliveries have not yet resumed.
In a statement on Tuesday, the FAA said that it would continue to approve 787 Dreamliner aircrafts for flight until Boeing’s quality control and manufacturing process “consistently produce 787s that meet FAA design standards.”
“This will allow the agency to confirm the effectiveness of measures Boeing has undertaken to improve the 787 manufacturing process,” the statement said.
In a statement sent to Insider, a spokesperson for Boeing said: “We respect the FAA’s role as our regulator and we work transparently through their detailed and rigorous processes. Safety is the top priority for our industry. We will continue to engage with the FAA to ensure we meet their expectations and all applicable requirements.”
The statement added: “Last year, we set out on a comprehensive program to ensure every 787 airplane in our production system conforms to our exacting specifications. We resolved many of the non-conformances and were finalizing our work on the remaining items. We also continue to focus on fulfilling requirements and expectations of the FAA and will follow their lead on the timing of resuming deliveries.”
Boeing could not confirm to Insider when deliveries of the Dreamliners would return.
The manufacturer has come under fire in recent years over safety issues. In July, around two months after deliveries were halted, the FAA said that some undelivered 787 planes had manufacturing problems near the nose of the airliners.
In November, the FAA also reported an issue related to the contamination of materials that make up the aircraft’s wing, fuselage and tail, and confirmed previously reported issues with fuselage gaps, The Seattle Times reported at the time.
The FAA also said that Boeing must have a plan to rework 787s in storage before the manufacturer could regain the authority to inspect the Dreamliners.
Boeing is also under ongoing scrutiny over a separate airliner — the 737 Max aircraft — after two of the planes crashed due to software issues, killing 346 people between 2018 and 2019.
Democratic lawmakers last week criticised the FAA’s oversight of Boeing and “reluctance to consider civil enforcement actions” in the wake of the crashes. They also asked the US Department of Transportation to conduct a federal review of the FAA’s actions.
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