Bad Batteries Seen as Best Case for 787 Overcoming Past

A telling image of the development of Boeing Co.’s 787 Dreamliner came in mid-2011, when dozens of them sat, unfinished, crammed into nooks and crannies around Boeing factories and rented tarmacs spread across two states. Concrete blocks hung from their wings to prevent them from tipping because they didn’t have engines to keep them balanced.

With delay after delay plaguing the aircraft’s entry into service, Boeing ultimately had built about 40 by the time it got final Federal Aviation Administration certification. That became a drag on Boeing -- at one point it had $16.2 billion of inventory related to the 787 -- and an important element of the current crisis in which every Dreamliner worldwide has been grounded after two suffered lithium-ion battery failures.