Boeing said on August 14 that it had ordered work to stop on fuselages being built by Italy's Alenia for the new 787 Dreamliner after discovering flaws.
Boeing ordered the work to stop on June 23 "due to a change in manufacturing processes," company spokeswoman Loretta Gunter said. "Stringers were being produced outside of Boeing specifications which led to microscopic wrinkles in the fuselage skin," she said. Stringers are structures used to reinforce the fuselage. "Two areas on the fuselage need to be reinforced to provide the desired strength. These areas are accessible from the outside of the airplane and the reinforcement is relatively simple," she added.
Gunter said that Alenia was continuing to work on the fuselage sections it had already fabricated.
"The Italian company will begin fabricating new barrels as soon as we have changed the design engineering such that the fuselage sections will not need to be reinforced after they are produced," she said.
"There is no impact to cost or schedule," the Boeing spokeswoman said. She declined to say when production would resume.
On June 23, the same day it issued the work-stoppage order, Boeing announced a fifth delay in the 787 Dreamliner program due to the need to reinforce the structure on the side of the aircraft.
At the time, Boeing said a new schedule for the first flight and delivery would be available in "several weeks."
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2009
