Boeing delivers its first 787 Dreamliner in over a year

Braving the supply chain constraints, shortage of labour in the aftermath of a global pandemic and relentless quality checks by regulators, Boeing, one of the biggest aviation companies in the world has restarted its delivery of the 787 Dreamliner, for the first time since May 2021.

The twin-engine wide-body aircraft was delivered to American Airlines at Boeing’s North Charleston, South Carolina plant. The companyhas an additional42787s on order.

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Robert Isom, CEO of American Airlines took to Instagram to share the news and stated that it was the first of the nine jets that his company seeks to receive delivery by the end of the year.

"This is an exciting day for @AmericanAir as we took delivery of our first @Boeing 787-8 since April 2021. The 787 is an important part of American’s fleet and this is the first of nine 787s we expect to receive this year. A big thank you to the #AATeam who worked to make today a reality and to our colleagues at the FAA and Boeing for their work during the review process." Isom captioned the post.

Read More:Supply chain constraints and labour shortage delay Boeing 737 MAX production

It is pertinent to note that Boeing's 787 jetliners were grounded in 2020 after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) discovered two manufacturing flaws that threatened to compromise the structural integrity of the plane.

As a safety precaution, Boeing, in August 2020 grounded eight of its Dreamliners and thus started the arduous process to get the aircraft back to full safety. A momentary resumption happened in the spring of next year but soon other discrepancies showed up and the deliveries were halted.

However, as reported by WION, earlier this week, the FAA finally gave its nod and cleared Boeing's path to deliver the plane to its customers.

WATCH:Boeing 787 Dreamliner deliveries to resume: FAA

Ever since the fatal twin crash of Boeing 737 MAX in 2018 and 2019, the Chicago-based company has had to face a relentless barrage of quality and security checks from the regulators.

787 is a big cash cow for Boeing and the delay in deliveries is expected to cost the company in excess of $5.5 billion, according to estimates released earlier this year. However, the resumption of deliveries can be a silver lining for a company that has fallen behind its competitor Airbus in recent times.

Currently, Boeing has 120 completed 787s in its factories, ready to be delivered of the total 476 orders.The highly sought-after aircraft variant is programmed to fly 234 passengers up to 13,530 kilometres, making it a beast in the sector.

(With inputs from agencies)

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