By Senad Karaahmetovic
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed yesterday that Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) has temporarily halted deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner jets. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report that Boeing hasn’t delivered the wide-body jet since January 26.
Shares of Boeing are down 2.9% in pre-open Friday.
According to FAA, Boeing discovered a non-compliance issue and deliveries will only resume once the regulator is satisfied that the issue has been resolved. Boeing said it "discovered an analysis error by our supplier related to the 787 forward pressure bulkhead.” The company believes there won’t be an impact on the full year 2023 delivery and production plan.
"There is no immediate safety or flight concern for the in-service fleet," Boeing said. "While near-term deliveries will be impacted, at this time we do not anticipate a change to our production and delivery outlook for the year."
On the other hand, the FAA said that it is working with Boeing “to determine any actions that might be required for recently delivered airplanes.”
For Wolfe Research analysts, the deliveries halt is “another bump on the road to recovery.”
“We do see buyer interest on weakness,” they said.
Morgan Stanley analysts added:
“In our view, this issue highlights that regulatory risks remain for Boeing. We reiterate our Equal-weight rating as we continue to see risk reward balanced.”