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The aerospace industry faces widening disruption from the blowout of a panel on an Alaska Airlines Boeing jet after US regulators froze increases in production of the 737 MAX, raising concerns over growth plans of airlines and suppliers worldwide. The Federal Aviation Administration announced the unprecedented intervention in production schedules, in a double-edged decision that also saw the partial grounding of the MAX 9 model lifted once inspections are done. The FAA said the order meant Boeing could continue producing MAX jets at the current monthly rate, but it could not increase that rate. It offered no estimate of how long the limitation would last and did not specify the number of planes Boeing can produce each month. The ability to resume flying was a relief to US MAX 9 operators Alaska Airlines and United Airlines which had been forced to cancel thousands of flights and aim to begin returning the planes to service on Friday and Sunday, respectively. But experts said the FAA's response to 'unacceptable' quality controls following the loss of a door plug at 16,000 feet on Jan. 5 could delay some deliveries of new planes to airlines and hurt suppliers already reeling from an earlier MAX crisis and the pandemic. Analysts have expressed concerns that extra scrutiny of Boeing factories following the MAX 9 door plug blowout would temper production increases for the smaller and more widely sold MAX 8, a key source of cash for Boeing and many suppliers. In October, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said the company planned to reach production of 38 MAX planes per month by the end of 2023. Boeing's latest 737 master schedule, which sets the production pace for suppliers, calls for production to rise to 42 jets per month in February, 47.2 in August, 52.5 by February 2025 and 57.7 in October 2025, Reuters reported in December. Some airlines could be 'significantly' impacted by any freeze on higher production, a senior industry source said. United, for example, has 100 MAX deliveries scheduled for this year, according to a regulatory filing in October. Read more: https://reut.rs/3HvUnon

Boeing expects 787 suppliers to catch up by year’s end, restoring output By Reuters https://ift.tt/tGSXEel Written by Alison Lambert (Reuters) – Boeing Co expects delayed suppliers to make up for parts that have slowed production of its 787 jetliner to less than five a month, as the U.S. planemaker works to restore production of two key commercial programs by the end of the year. Boeing and its European rival Airbus are struggling to meet strong airline demand for aircraft as they struggle with supply chain and factory problems. Such concerns are expected to cast a shadow over the Farnborough Airshow, which runs from July 22-26, despite strong travel demand. Earlier this year, Boeing cut production of the 787 to let “suppliers catch up,” a company executive told reporters during a June visit to its sprawling 777 widebody factory in Everett, Wash. “Our plan is to return to five flights per month later this year when we see that the parts supply is back where it needs to be,” said Scott Stocker, vice president and general manager of the 787 program in South Carolina. Boeing executives told reporters the company is taking similar steps to increase employee feedback and production quality on its widebody jets that fly long international routes, such as its single-aisle 737 Max. The planemaker is under increasing legal and regulatory scrutiny after a door seal exploded mid-air in January on a nearly new 737 Max 9 jet, which was blamed on missing rivets. Boeing has said it will restore 737 production to about 38 by the end of the year after cutting production of its best-selling jet. While the planemaker has given a boost to its widebody jets by starting flight tests this month of its long-awaited 777-9, delays in the supply of seats and heat exchangers have created separate challenges for the 787. A separate problem with the Dreamliner’s stabilizers, revealed by Reuters in June, has no impact on the current price, Stocker said. Stocker also said Boeing conducted a comprehensive fleet analysis after an employee alerted the planemaker earlier this year that some tests had not been completed. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has opened an investigation. “We found that we had to get back to work and address some of the work that had not been done properly. The investigation is still ongoing but we have made really good progress,” he said. Boeing has halted deliveries of its 787 widebody jets for more than a year until August 2022 while the Federal Aviation Administration investigates quality issues and manufacturing defects. However, the aircraft maker is looking to ramp up Dreamliner production, after setting a target rate of 10 Dreamliners per month in the 2025-2026 timeframe at its 2022 Investor Day. Stocker did not specify a long-term goal: “We plan to raise prices over the next few years.” The post Boeing expects 787 suppliers to catch up by year’s end, restoring output By Reuters first appeared on Investorempires.c...

Boeing’s biggest U.S. customers are taking their frustrations directly to its board of directors. A group of airline chiefs recently requested a meeting with Boeing’s board to express concern over the Alaska Airlines accident and production problems that have upended the industry’s plans, people familiar with the matter said. The airline bosses want Boeing directors to address the mounting fallout from the Jan. 5 panel blowout on a 737 MAX and to spell out their plan for fixing the aircraft maker’s quality problems. Boeing has responded by offering to send Chairman Larry Kellner, a former chief executive of Continental Airlines, and other board members to meet the leaders of its key U.S. customers as soon as next week, the people said. Boeing directors are also expected to meet in coming weeks with CEOs of international airlines that rely on its jets. The request to meet with Boeing’s directors is an unusual sign of frustration with the manufacturer’s problems and its leader, David Calhoun. The Boeing CEO isn’t expected to attend the planned meetings. Calhoun supports and is encouraging the meetings, a Boeing official said. “We’ve been actively focused on listening to our customers at all levels of our company,” Boeing said in a statement. Calhoun has apologized for Boeing’s mistakes and said the manufacturer is working with customers and regulators to address their concerns. Calhoun is a longtime Boeing director who was brought on to run Boeing in early 2020 amid an earlier crisis. Alaska Airlines, Southwest Airlines, American Airlines and United Airlines are among the biggest users of the 737 MAX and are waiting on deliveries of many more of the popular jets. Alongside Boeing, airlines have also weathered much of the fallout for the Alaska accident, which resulted in a door plug blowing off the 737 MAX and a harrowing emergency landing in Portland. Delivery delays and a slowdown in long-awaited approvals of new Boeing aircraft have upended airlines’ growth plans. The Alaska accident has called into question Boeing’s production quality controls and the safety of the 737 MAX, a workhorse for major carriers across the globe. Accident investigators have said it appeared that the jet involved left Boeing’s factory without critical bolts needed to keep the door plug secured. Boeing has been producing and delivering far fewer aircraft this year as it weeds out quality problems and faces regulatory scrutiny. Analysts expect the company to deliver roughly 15 737s a month for the next few months, down from the more than 40-a-month being delivered at the end of 2023.

United Airlines Reveals 2024 Fleet Expectations, Sans-MAX 10 Of the 191 contractual aircraft deliveries originally slated for 2024, United Airlines expects to receive just 88 this year. Following through with expectations announced during the carrier’s latest earnings call, the adjusted fleet plan is now detailed in a Feb. 29 10-K filing. United’s Contractual Aircraft Deliveries for 2024 are listed as eight Boeing 787s, 157 MAXs (43 737-8s, 34 737-9s, 80 737-10s), and 26 Airbus A321neos. By the end of 2022, United had projected 127 deliveries in 2024 comprising eight 787s, 88 MAXs, and 31 A321neos. Deliveries expected this year now number seven 787s, 56 MAXs (37 -8s, 19 -9s, zero -10s) and 25 A321neos. In 2025, it projects 64 deliveries versus 135 contractual, having removed 71 -10s. United’s adjustments stem from the January 737-9 groundings and related uncertainty for certification of the 737-10, a variant since removed from United’s internal plans without canceling the order. “If the Company is unable to acquire additional aircraft at acceptable prices from Boeing or Airbus, or if Boeing or Airbus fails to make timely deliveries of aircraft ... the Company’s operations could be materially and adversely affected,” United writes in its annual filing for 2023. At a recent investors conference, CFO and EVP Mike Leskinen said United would work around delivery delays to keep on a trajectory of growth, despite its original reliance on the -10. “If the MAX 10 were available today we would still have our foot firmly on the gas,” Leskinen said at the Feb. 20 event. United can extend the life of older airframes—“not my favorite option because some … are ready to retire,” the CFO noted, while voicing another option to “mix some additional Airbus product” into its Boeing-heavy fleet. “We are going to continue to grow at a rate materially above GDP, as far as I can see,” Leskinen said. “The mixture of that growth had been reliant on MAX 10s, and what you’re going to see now is much more MAX 9 and [A]321 aircraft, the mix of which I don’t know yet—it depends on the prices.” Additional A321neos could join United’s fleet as early as 2025, according to a report from Bloomberg, with potential production slots made available by recent JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines deferments. Year-end filings show JetBlue now expects to take delivery of 25 A321neos between 2024-27 versus a year-ago plan for 50. Spirit has extended deliveries for certain A320neos and A321neos from a 2025-27 timeframe to a widened 2025-29 span and deferred other A320neos from 2024 to 2025 and beyond, expecting its capacity for 2024 to be flat to up by mid-single-digits. Currently, United operates 712 Boeing aircraft, or 82% of its in-service fleet, according to the Aviation Week Network Fleet Discovery database, with 220 Airbus aircraft on order and 506 Boeing, 271 of which are -10s.

https://lnkd.in/exKPK9eP #aviation #manufacturing #regulation #supplychains #demandmanagement #quality #safety "The latest figures also reveal a 17.6 per cent increase in the commercial aircraft order backlog, from 13,401 to 15,753. ADS estimates the backlog is the equivalent of a decades worth of work and at least £250bn in value for the UK."