Boeing 737 MAX deliveries disrupted by a quality problem of the fuselage

Boeing 737 MAX deliveries disrupted by a quality problem of the fuselage

Time Stamp: April 14, 2023 4:25 AM
Source Node: 2582858

The American aircraft manufacturer Boeing warned Thursday that deliveries of its medium-haul 737 MAX would be disrupted for quality problems on parts delivered by its supplier Spirit Aerosystems.

“A supplier informed us that a non-standard manufacturing process was used when installing two fittings in the rear fuselage of certain 737-7, 737-8, 737-8-200 aircraft models, and on the 737-based P-8 Orion built for the U.S. Navy,” Boeing said. This problem does not pose an immediate risk and the planes in service can continue to fly “in complete safety”, according to Boeing. The fittings involved are two of eight points where the vertical fin is attached to the fuselage.

Spirit Aerosystems confirmed that it had notified Boeing of a “quality issue” on the aft fuselage section of certain 737 aircraft and also affirmed that there was no “immediate” risk.

In a statement, the FAA said that “based on the facts and data Boeing presented, the FAA validated the company’s assessment that there is no immediate safety issue.”

But inspections are to be carried out, and possibly modifications to be made, on 737 MAX aircraft not yet delivered, in production or in stock, and this could lead to a short-term drop in deliveries of this family of aircraft, warned Boeing.

Dominic Gates observes in The Seattle Times that “It is believed the newly-discovered problem may date back four years, and so affect most of the planes built since the jet was grounded in 2019 after two fatal crashes. Since the jet returned to service in December 2020, more than 750 MAXs have been delivered to customers.”

This is a new setback for Boeing, which has just gone through several chaotic years marked by the two fatal accidents of the 737 MAX in 2018 and 2019 which led to the worldwide grounding of the aircraft for 20 months, by the pandemic and its impact on air traffic and supply chains, as well as by manufacturing problems discovered on the long-haul 787 Dreamliner in the summer of 2020. Boeing is, however, betting on an increase in the delivery rate and still assured that it wanted to deliver at least 400 MAX aircraft in 2023.

Spirit Aerosystems for its part says “working on the development of an inspection and repair for the fuselages concerned“, and wants to “minimise the impacts” on Boeing of these disturbances.

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