Fault Detected On Boeing 787 Dreamliner Plane's Tail Section, Shipments Halted

The Boeing 787 and the 737 Max have both been plagued by production defects and left airlines without planes that they expected to have for the peak summer season.

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Boeing said Tuesday that deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner have been halted again by another manufacturing issue, the latest in a string of setbacks affecting the two-aisle jet. The company said it is inspecting fittings on part of the tail called the horizontal stabilizer “for a nonconforming condition.” The inspections and repairs will affect near-term deliveries but won't alter the company's forecast of deliveries for the full year. Boeing did not say how many planes are affected by the new defect.

Boeing said the flaw in the tail is not a safety issue and planes already in airline fleets can keep flying. The company said it notified the Federal Aviation Administration and airlines.

The 787 and the 737 Max have both been plagued by production defects that have sporadically held up deliveries and left airlines without planes that they expected to have for the peak summer season. In April, Boeing found a problem with fittings on Max jets were the fuselage meets the vertical section of the tail.

A month before that, deliveries of the 787 were stopped while federal regulators looked over documentation of work that was done on new planes. Shipments of 787s have been stopped several times in the past three years because of production issues.

The delays hurt Boeing because buyers usually pay a large part of the purchase price on delivery.