Feb 24 (Reuters) – Shares of Boeing Co (BA.N) fell nearly 5% on Friday after the U.S. plane maker temporarily halted deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner planes due to a documentation issue related to a fuselage component.
Boeing, after reviewing certification records, said on Thursday it “discovered an analysis error by our supplier related to the 787’s forward pressure bulkhead,” causing deliveries to pause months after they resumed in August.
Boeing shares closed down 4.79% at $198.15.
The latest setback in 787 deliveries should result in no design changes and the planes in service should continue flying, analysts said.
Boeing expected to deliver 787s this month before the problem was discovered, a person familiar with the matter said. These deliveries will now be delayed until Boeing obtains approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.
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“An unwanted blowout from the past, but hopefully brief,” JP Morgan analyst Seth Seifman said in a note, adding that 787 jet deliveries are the main drivers of 1-year cash flow growth. $.7 billion year-over-year Boeing projects. .
The aircraft manufacturer said the error was discovered during the process to extend the operating time of a key component.
The current issue is unrelated to an earlier quality issue involving gaps around the forward pressure bulkhead that was discovered by the FAA in 2021 and contributed to a delivery stoppage that lasted through August 2022.
When Boeing won FAA approval to restart Dreamliner deliveries, the company said it needed to fit those 787s with a modified version of the forward pressure bulkhead that would fix past quality issues.
This version of the component was given a temporary operational limit of four years, giving Boeing time to update its documentation.
The component acts as a barrier between the pressurized interior cabin and the radome (or nose cone). It was provided by Spirit AeroSystems (SPR.N), which said it was too early to say it had made the “analysis error”.
Shares of Spirit fell 3.7%.
The faulty data analysis was submitted several years ago and was discovered by Boeing last week, according to the person familiar with the issue.
“We are suspending deliveries while we update our analysis and submit all certification deliverables required to address the non-compliance,” Boeing said.
Separately, Boeing said it was replacing a nonconforming component on some undelivered 787s. The trim air silencer, part of the Collins Aerospace manufactured cabin air distribution system that regulates air temperature, muffles the sound of warm air before it enters the cabin.
Boeing said it is coordinating closely with the FAA and customers to determine which 787s will need muffler replacements. The reported issue is not related to the delivery stoppage and is not a security issue, the company said.
Collins declined to comment.
Reporting by Abhijith Ganapavaram and Valerie Insinna in Washington; Additional reporting by Pratyush Thakur in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Mark Porter and Deepa Babington
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