Boeing Slides On 787 Dreamliner Delivery Pause After Fuselage Part Review

Boeing Co shares stumbled in premarket trading after the planemaker suspended deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner jets over a documentation issue, according to WSJ, citing a report from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). 

“Boeing temporarily halted deliveries of 787 Dreamliners after notifying the FAA that it is conducting additional analysis on a fuselage component.” 

“Deliveries will not resume until the FAA is satisfied that the issue has been addressed,” the FAA said. 

Boeing said after reexamining certification records, it “discovered an analysis error by our supplier related to the 787 forward pressure bulkhead. We notified the FAA and have paused 787 deliveries while we complete the required analysis and documentation.”

Spirit AeroSystems is the supplier of the forward pressure bulkhead for widebody jets. The supplier said it was aware of the 787 delivery halt. 

“Based on the information we currently have and our interactions with Boeing to date, we believe it is too early to assert there was an ‘analysis error’ by Spirit,” the supplier said in a statement.

Shares of Boeing fell 3% on the news. 

Boeing said the halt shouldn’t impact full-year production and delivery guidance. 

According to Cai von Rumohr, an analyst at Cowen & Co., the latest delivery halt for Boeing is likely a short-term issue. 

 “Our understanding is that the error is a ‘non-compliance’ with FAA documentation requirements and not a ‘non-conformance’ with a manufacturing specification,” von Rumohr wrote in a note to clients. 

Jefferies Analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu noted that non-compliance is a “short-lived bump in the road” for the planemaker.