Boeing Says 787 Checks Won’t Affect Production

Boeing Co. (BA) said inspections of 787 Dreamliners for signs of delamination on the fuselage won’t cause a significant impact to the production schedule for the first passenger jet built chiefly of carbon-fiber composites.

There is no “immediate safety issue” from the fault, Dan Mooney, Boeing’s vice president of development for the 787-8, the initial Dreamliner variant being built, said today in Bangkok. “We don’t anticipate right now that there will be a significant impact to our production schedule.”

Chicago-based Boeing has declined to say how many jets showed signs of delamination, a term for the separation that can occur in a composite material when its layers crack and lose strength. The twin-engine 787 entered service in 2011 after more than three years of delays.

Boeing is making the checks on its own fleet and “not yet on customer’s airplanes,” Mooney said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Ten Kate in Bangkok at dtenkate@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tony Jordan at tjordan3@bloomberg.net