Aerospace and defense giant Boeing Co. (BA) will inspect 43 of the 787 Dreamliners that are getting ready for delivery for hairline cracks on the wings, according to a Wall Streey Journal report on Friday. The move comes after inspections revealed cracks on some of them. The manufacturing defect could lead to delays in the delivery of the planes.
The Chicago, Illinois-based company reportedly said the manufacturing defect could have arisen from a change in manufacturing process by Japanese supplier Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., which makes the wings. However, Boeing confirmed that none of the 123 Dreamliners delivered to date are affected by the wing crack, the report said. The defect was attributed to the fasteners used to connect aluminum shear ties on the wing ribs to the carbon fiber composite wing panel, which were over-tightened without the use of manufacturing fillers, compressing a gap in the structure and in some cases causing hairline cracks of less than an inch.
The company reportedly noted that it still plans to deliver around 110 of the jets in 2014 and said its revenue guidance of $87.5 billion to $90.5 billion remains unchanged for the year.
The company had recently raised its production rate for the 787 program to ten per month, the highest ever for a twin-aisle airplane, in order to meet high demand. The production rate was increased three times in just over a year, including to five airplanes per month in November 2012 and seven per month in May 2013.
It is now looking to increase the production rate to 12 per month in 2016 and to 14 per month by the end of the decade.
Boeing rolled out the first 787 Dreamliner built at the rate of 10 airplanes per month in late January. It was the 155th Dreamliner built to be delivered to International Lease Finance Corp. for operation by Aeromexico.
To date, 115 787s have been delivered to 16 customers. The program has 1,030 total orders from 60 customers worldwide.
BA closed Friday's regular trading session at $128.54, down $0.32 or 0.25% on a volume of 4.30 million shares.
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December 19, 2025 15:10 ET U.S. inflation data and interest rate decisions by major central banks were the highlights of this busy week for economics news flow. Employment data and survey results on the housing markets also gained attention in the U.S. In Europe, the European Central Bank and Bank of England announced their policy decisions and macroeconomic projections.