CHICAGO (dpa-AFX) - Boeing Co.'s (BA) deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner will likely remain halted until at least late October as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration or FAA rejected the company's recent inspection proposal, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Boeing has been unable to persuade the FAA to approve its proposal, after Boeing employees who represent the agency didn't support the plan, the Journal reported.
The plane maker reportedly said it has engaged with the FAA on the issue in meetings and working sessions over hundreds of hours and will continue to do so.
Boeing's Dreamliner program was disrupted by the discovery of additional defects in July, and the company has halted deliveries since early May.
The FAA reportedly said it continues to engage with Boeing as the company works to demonstrate the reliability of its proposed method for inspecting certain undelivered 787 airplanes. The FAA would not sign off on the inspections until its safety experts are satisfied.'
The FAA had tightened the scrutiny of Dreamliners just four months after the agency lifted a 20-month flight ban on Boeing's best-selling 737 Max, which was grounded in March 2019 after two deadly crashes in five months.
The FAA also retained its authority to sign off on Max planes that Boeing produced since the grounding. Previously, FAA allowed Boeing to sign off on its behalf, allowing the company to issue the airworthiness certificates.
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