Federal air safety regulators have reportedly launched a fresh investigation into Boeing (NYSE:BA) after the aircraft manufacturer recently admitted that its employees might have bypassed certain inspections on 787 Dreamliners, marking the latest quality control issue at the company.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Boeing in April informed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that it may not have carried out required inspections of electrical bonding and grounding safeguards where the wings join the fuselage on specific aircraft.
The FAA is now probing "whether Boeing completed the inspections and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records."
Boeing stock slipped 0.8% on Monday following the news.
The report says that it remains uncertain if any 787 Dreamliners currently in service will require grounding for inspection. The FAA said Boeing is reinspecting all 787s currently in production and must develop a plan to address the existing Dreamliner fleet.
Scott Stocker, the 787 program chief, assured in an internal message dated April 29 that no immediate issues have been found with Dreamliners currently in operation.
“Fortunately, our engineering team has assessed that this misconduct did not create an immediate safety of flight issue,” Stocker said in the message seen by the WSJ.
The move marks the latest in a series of regulators’ investigations into Boeing in recent years. The planemaker has been closely scrutinized by the FAA and other regulatory authorities since a door plug blew out midair on a 737 MAX flown by Alaska Airlines on January 5.