Is the Boeing Dreamliner back in business?

The embattled plane maker is itching to stretch its wings.

By TheWeek.com Feb 25, 2013 9:50AM

Boeing (BA) is seeking regulatory approval on battery fixes for its 787 Dreamliner, which could put the troubled new jetliner back in the skies by April. The Dreamliner has been marred by a slew of problems in recent months, which led to the global grounding of all 50 active Dreamliners and raised doubts about the plane's future.

"Boeing executives briefed key members of Congress in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, telling them the company has developed a permanent fix" to the battery problems that have plagued its new flagship plane, says Dominic Gates at the Seattle Times.

The company laid out a plan to the Federal Aviation Administration on Friday, hoping that the FAA will clear engineers' proposed fixes. The changes reportedly include a stronger outer containment box, a system of high-pressure tubes that vent gases directly out of the airplane, and better insulation between the battery's eight cells.

A congressional aide reportedly said that Boeing hopes to have its planes cleared for takeoff by April.

Investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board are still probing the cause of two incidents that led to the grounding, including a battery fire aboard a 787 in Boston in early January.

The other incident involved a smoldering battery aboard a Dreamliner in Japan, which led to an emergency landing and a separate investigation by Japanese regulators. They were initially stymied, but announced today that they had identified the causes of issues including oil leaks, cracks in cockpit glass, and braking problems, the Associated Press reported.

Boeing, meanwhile, has remained quiet. CEO Jim McNerney -- who reportedly "sent handwritten apologies to the chairmen of airlines whose 787 batteries went up in smoke, "according to the Wall Street Journal -- has been laying low and working closely with engineers.

"I'm the one who has to stand up with absolute confidence when Boeing proposes a solution to enable this technology for the world," McNerney said. "And the only way I know how is to dive in deeply with the people doing the scientific and technical work."

Despite the problems, Boeing has declined to change its production schedule and continues to build five Dreamliners each month. But the company can't deliver or get paid for the plans until it's cleared to fly.

"We'll have a lot of 787s stacking up around here if we don't get this done sooner rather than later," McNerney said.

More from The Week

Tags:

BATheWeek.com

< Back to Top Stocks

0Comments

DATA PROVIDERS

Quotes are real-time for NASDAQ, NYSE and AMEX. See delay times for other exchanges.

Fundamental company data and historical chart data provided by Thomson Reuters (click for restrictions). Real-time quotes provided by BATS Exchange. Real-time index quotes and delayed quotes supplied by Interactive Data Real-Time Services. Fund summary, fund performance and dividend data provided by Morningstar Inc. Analyst recommendations provided by Zacks Investment Research. StockScouter data provided by Verus Analytics. IPO data provided by Hoover's Inc. Index membership data provided by SIX Financial Information.

Japanese stock price data provided by Nomura Research Institute Ltd.; quotes delayed 20 minutes. Canadian fund data provided by CANNEX Financial Exchanges Ltd.

Feedback

STOCK SCOUTER

StockScouter rates stocks from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best, using a system of advanced mathematics to determine a stock's expected risk and return. Ratings are displayed on a bell curve, meaning there will be fewer ratings of 1 and 10 and far more of 4 through 7.

128	268	471	585	655	595	674	423	261	140
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10

Top Picks

SYMBOL	NAME	RATING
ABT	Abbott Laboratories	10
AIG	American International Group Inc	10
ATVI	Activision Blizzard Inc	10
CA	CA Inc	10
CSCO	Cisco Systems Inc	10

LATEST POSTS

Why the stimulus can never stop

The market's cheap money addiction is laid bare. No one knows how it will end.

FIDELITY VIEWPOINTS

VIDEO ON MSN MONEY

Feedback

ABOUT

Top Stocks provides analysis about the most noteworthy stocks in the market each day, combining some of the best content from around the MSN Money site and the rest of the Web.

Contributors include professional investors and journalists affiliated with MSN Money.

Bing Search

Top Stocks