Boeing hands over a 787 to United Airlines despite delivery pause

Boeing has delivered a 787-10 to United Airlines despite the manufacturer halting deliveries due to issues with an analysis error related to the 787 forward-pressure bulkhead.

The aircraft, registered as N17015, was delivered to United Airlines on February 27, 2023. It came from the inventory, with the 787-10 first flying on December 7, 2021, according to planespotters.net data.

While deliveries of the type were suspended on February 23, 2023, the aircraft in question received its airworthiness certificate prior to the pause, FlightGlobal reported.

“There is no immediate safety of flight concern for the in-service fleet. We are communicating with our customers and will continue to follow the lead of the FAA,” Boeing stated when pausing delivery of the type on February 23, 2023. The manufacturer added that “near-term deliveries will be impacted”, but the outlook for the number of produced and delivered Boeing 787s will not change at this time.

Production of the aircraft type has continued.

This is not the first time Boeing has paused deliveries of the 787 during the last few years. In October 2020, the manufacturer suspended deliveries following the discovery of problems related to inner fuselage skin and the shims used to join fuselage sections. The company resumed deliveries again in March 2021, before suspending them for the second time in a few months in May 2021, because the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was unhappy with Boeing’s proposed methods of inspection.

The manufacturer resumed deliveries of the type in August 2022.

During the company’s Q4 2022 earnings call, Boeing Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Executive Vice President, Brian West noted that the planemaker had 100 Boeing 787s in inventory as of December 31, 2022, “most of which will be delivered by the end of 2024”.