FAA orders inspections of Boeing 787s; AC & WestJet expect no operational impact

This story was updated on Thursday, August 22 at 12:42 a.m. EST

Some potential turbulence lies ahead for airlines that operate Boeing's Dreamliner aircraft.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Monday (Aug. 19) that it would require inspections of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliners following an incident in March when a LATAM Airlines plane went into a mid-air dive, injuring more than 50 passengers.

The FAA says the reason for the dive was the uncommanded movement of the captain's seat, which caused the auto-pilot to disconnect, Reuters reports.

The FAA says it received five reports of similar problems with the captain and first officer seats on 787s, the most recent in June. Meanwhile, two remain under investigation.

18 million seats possibly impacted

More than 18 million seats in over 64,000 flights worldwide in the next 30 days could be potentially affected by the FAA-mandated inspections, according to data from Mabrian.

Of the flights impacted, 92 per cent of such flights are scheduled in 787-8 and 787-9 models. In terms of availability, 58 per cent of total seats affected are scheduled in 787-9 aircrafts, and over a third in 787-8 planes.

“This mandatory inspection will not imply to land all planes at the same time, as airlines have 30 days to complete it and fix any malfunction, but it will pose a massive challenge in an already tight summer and post summer schedule, that could cause delays and cancellations worldwide,” stated Carlos Cendra, partner and director of marketing and communications at Mabrian, in a statement. 

The FAA Airworthiness Directive applies to 895 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft operating around the world. It requires airlines to inspect their captain’s and first officer’s seats of certain Boeing 787-8, 9, and 10 airplanes that are currently in service.

Carriers that connect America and Europe – United Airlines, American Airlines, Air Canada, WestJet, LATAM Airlines, and Air Europa - would be forced to re-organize seats and flights in the coming 30 days.

The carriers that should have to cushion a larger impact derived from the directive will be All Nippon Airways and Qatar Airways, as well as Hainan Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines, Mabrian says.

Among the list of the airlines that should have to manage their schedules in the next month to attend the inspection are Japan Airlines, Singapore Airlines, and China Southern Airlines; or airlines catering to Middle East and Asia long-haul routes, such as Etihad Airways and Turkish Airlines.

Air Canada & WestJet expect no operational impact

In an email to PAX on Wednesday (Aug 21), Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick said the issue raised in the FAA directive was previously identified at other carriers and that Air Canada has already undertaken the necessary preventative inspection.

“We will re-inspect the seats in compliance with the new directive as we do with all such directives. We expect no operational impact as a result,” Fitzpatrick said.

PAX also contacted WestJet for comment and the airline said a modification was previously made to WestJet’s fleet to correct the issue identified by the FAA. 

"Out of an abundance of caution the required inspection was previously executed several months ago," wrote spokesperson Julia Kaiser in an email. "Based on today's FAA Airworthiness Directive, WestJet Tech Ops employees will reperform the inspection. No operational impact is expected."

Boeing said Monday that it had paused test flights on its 777-9 that is awaiting certification after a component between the engine and airplane structure failed to perform during a maintenance check.

The FAA said Boeing had informed it the company discovered a damaged component following a 777-9 flight test last week.

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