Daily Times

A US Federal Aviation Administration decision to bring in-house final checks on four Boeing Co 787 jets is the latest signal of the agency’s tougher scrutiny of the embattled US airplane manufacturer.

The FAA said late Wednesday it was taking “a number of corrective actions” to address multiple production issues on the advanced carbon-composite twin-aisle aircraft. These include structural integrity flaws and potential safety hazards, it said in an email to Reuters.

“One of the actions is retaining the authority to issue (Airworthiness Certificates) for four specific aircraft,” it said. “We can extend the AC retention to other aircraft if we see the need.”

The FAA told Boeing of its decision in a January letter reviewed by Reuters.

The move comes as the planemaker has faced tougher scrutiny in the wake of two crashes involving its 737 MAX jet that killed 346 people, triggering a 20-month safety ban that US regulators lifted last November.

A September US House report into the two crashes faulted “grossly insufficient oversight by the FAA.” “With all the accusations of an overly-close relationship between (the FAA) and Boeing, they’re eager to emphasize that they’re deploying more resources for inspections, exercising more authority, and scrutinizing work more closely,” said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with Teal Group. “We’ll likely see more actions like this.” FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said last month the agency was holding Boeing accountable and added he “reiterated to Boeing’s leadership time and again that the company must prioritize safety and regulatory compliance, and that the FAA will always put safety first in all its decisions.” For most aircraft deliveries, Boeing employees officially designated to act on behalf of the FAA conduct final airworthiness checks before a jet is handed over to an airline.