Feb 24 (Reuters) – Boeing Co shares fell nearly 5 percent on Friday after the U.S. planemaker temporarily halted deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner jets due to a fuselage documentation issue.
Boeing, after reviewing certification records, said Thursday that it had “discovered an error in analysis by our supplier related to the 787’s forward pressure bulkhead,” halting deliveries months after they were allowed to resume in August.
Boeing shares closed down 4.79 percent at $198.15.
Analysts said the recent hiccups in 787 deliveries should not lead to any design changes and the aircraft are expected to continue in service.
A person familiar with the matter said Boeing was expecting to deliver the 787s this month before the problem was discovered. Those deliveries will now be delayed until Boeing gets FAA approval.
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“An unwelcome blast from the past, but hopefully a short one,” JPMorgan analyst Seth Sieffman said in a note, adding that shipments of the 787 aircraft are the main driver of the $1.7 billion year-over-year cash flow growth that Boeing expects. .
The aircraft maker said the error was found during work during the process to extend the operating schedule for a key part.
The current issue is not related to a previous quality issue involving gaps around the forward pressure bulkhead that was discovered by the FAA in 2021 and contributed to a delivery interruption that lasted through August 2022.
When Boeing secured FAA approval to restart Dreamliner deliveries, the company said it was required to outfit the 787s with a modified version of the forward depressurization bulkhead that would solve past quality issues.
This version of the component was given a temporary four-year operational limitation, which gave Boeing time to update its documentation.
The component acts as a barrier between the pressurized inner compartment and the radome (or nose cone). It was provided by Spirit AeroSystems (SPR.N), which said it was too early to confirm that it had made an “analysis error”.
Spirit shares fell 3.7%.
The faulty data analysis was filed several years ago and was discovered by Boeing last week, according to the person familiar with the issue.
“We are pausing deliveries while we update our analysis and provide any certificates of deliveries required to address non-compliance,” Boeing said.
Separately, Boeing said it is replacing an incompatible component on some 787s that have not been delivered. The air muffler, part of Collins Aerospace’s cabin air distribution system that regulates air temperature, muffles hot air before it enters the cabin.
Boeing said it is coordinating closely with the Federal Aviation Administration and customers to determine which 787 will need a muffler replacement. The company said the reported issue was not related to the interruption of delivery and did not constitute a safety issue.
Collins declined to comment.
(Covering) By Abhijith Janappavaram and Valerie Ensina in Washington; Additional reporting by Pratyush Thakur in Bengaluru. Editing by Soumyadib Chakrabarty, Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Mark Porter and Deepa Babbington
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