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The first Boeing 787-10 "Dreamliner" after its maiden flight at Charleston International Airport (archive picture)
Photo: Mic Smith / dpa
The US aircraft giant Boeing comes under pressure again due to possible production defects in the long-haul 787 "Dreamliner".
The US aviation authority FAA ordered inspections of around 222 aircraft on Wednesday because there is a risk of damage to so-called decompression panels for separating the passenger area.
According to the authority, the defect could have fatal consequences, for example if air freight catches fire.
A statement from Boeing was initially not available.
The Airbus rival has been struggling with problems with the »Dreamliner« for some time, which is slowing down deliveries of the important model.
There had already been reports of deficiencies in September last year, and machines even had to be shut down due to acute safety concerns:
The machines had several production errors in the rear fuselage section at the same time.
In the worst case, there was obviously a risk of damage in the air - with the structural loads of a normal flight.
A little later, Boeing admitted another serious mistake that the company had known about since February.
In 893 models of the 787, there is premature material fatigue in the area of the horizontal stabilizer.
All affected machines are apparently still young enough that the material defect should not initially have any safety-relevant effects.
The year before, too, there had been headlines about possible security deficiencies.
At that time, an employee warned of possible defective components in Boeing machines.
Apparently, suppliers supplied aircraft parts such as the central fuselage or wings that had not been checked at all to determine whether they met the originally agreed quality standards and properties.
First start of a Boeing 737 Max in Europe
The group is already badly hit by the consequences of the corona crisis and the debacle over its best-selling 737 Max series, which was banned from flights worldwide for more than a year and a half after two crashes with a total of 346 deaths.
As the group announced at the end of January, the bottom line was a loss of more than 11.9 billion US dollars (9.8 billion euros) in the 2020 annual financial statements - a record loss.
After all, a Boeing 737 Max was allowed to take off on a commercial flight in Europe for the first time.
A machine of this type from the Belgian Tui Fly took off on Wednesday morning from Brussels to Alicante, Spain, and on to Málaga, as can be seen on the Flightradar24 website.
The European aviation safety authority Easa approved the return of the machine type to flight operations at the end of January.
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Boeing 737 Max machine after take-off in Brussels: first commercial flight in Europe after the take-off ban
Photo: Laurie Dieffembacq / dpa
The US aviation authority FAA had already given the green light for the 737 Max in November.
The worldwide flight ban has been in effect after two crashes with several hundred deaths since March 2019.
To get the green light to resume air traffic, Boeing had made a number of technical changes.
Among other things, the software of the stabilization system has been revised.
In addition, every airline had to revise its training program for pilots of the 737 Max.
Until the flight ban, the 737 Max was Boeing's best seller.
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oka / AFP / dpa