Airlines flying Boeing's 787-10 Dreamliner are complaining about quality they say is 'way below acceptable standards'

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File photo: An Air India 787 Dreamliner on the production floor at Boeing's North Charleston, South Carolina factory on April 27, 2012.

• Airlines have privately complained to Boeing about poor quality control in recent deliveries of 787-10 Dreamliner airplanes.
• The complaints center around Boeing's North Charleston, South Carolina, factory, The Post and Courier reported. Boeing also assembles the jetliner at its Everett, Washington, facility.
• In internal surveys, the airlines described issues like production delays, dented panels, scratches on cockpit windows, loose nuts and bolts, and unsecured fuel-line clamps. Publicly, the airlines all stand by the plane, which also receives good feedback from passengers due to its high-tech comfort-focused features.
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Airlines flying Boeing's 787-10 Dreamliner have complained to the planemaker about "unacceptable" production mistakes and inconsistent quality.

The problems center around Dreamliners built at Boeing's North Charleston, South Carolina, factory, according to a report from The Post and Courier.

Issues at the North Charleston plant were reported in April in a comprehensive New York Times investigation, which found evidence of shoddy production, poor oversight, and a culture that "made speed a priority over safety." The report came a month after Boeing's 737 Max jet was grounded worldwide after the second fatal crash in five months.

The new report surfaced complaints from a global cadre of airlines that fly the jet and have received orders from the South Carolina plant, one of two locations where the Dreamliner is assembled - other orders are built at Boeing's Everett, Washington, factory.

While the issues are not limited to either the South Carolina plant or the 787 - similar problems have been raised in Everett with both 787s and military tankers - the complaints surfaced by The Post and Courier focus on recent deliveries of Boeing's newest and largest variant of the Dreamliner, the 787-10. It was not immediately clear whether the airlines made similar complaints about other variants of the plane, including the 787-8 and 787-9.

Read more: Photos show how Boeing's grounded 737 Max planes are piling up at the company's Seattle plant

Although the 787 had a troubled start, with a grounding ordered due to battery fires in 2013 and some customers facing issues with Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engines used on some of the planes - customers have the option of choosing between the Rolls Royce engine or one made by GE - the Dreamliner has generally been favored by passengers and airlines for its comfort-focused features and fuel efficiency.

The complaints were communicated as part of internal surveys Boeing asks airlines to complete after a plane is delivered. Survey results are inherently unscientific, because not all airlines participate, and as the Post and Courier noted, supplier issues outside of Boeing's control can skew the results.

In a statement provided to The Post and Courier, Boeing said that airlines "continue to express great confidence in the 787."

"Boeing and our customers demonstrate the highest standards of safety and quality, which is evident by the 787 Dreamliner's excellent record of safety and reliability in-service," the company said in the statement.

However, the specific issues described by numerous airlines were consistent with past whistleblower complains and news reports.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines described the factory's quality control as "way below acceptable standards" when talking about a new 787-10 delivered this spring. Among several issues noted were loose seats, missing and incorrectly installed pins, nuts and bolts not fully tightened, and a fuel line clamp left unsecured. 

Notably, while the airline privately expressed concerns related to the plane - "who looks at quality in this facility," the airline asked - it publicly described the plane, which was painted specially for the airline's 100th anniversary, enthusiastically.

"We're very happy to have this beauty on board," KLM tweeted.

The airline also confirmed to Business Insider that it's happy with the Dreamliner - and downplayed that the survey answers reflected any loss of confidence in the Boeing.

"We appreciate our long-standing partnership with the Boeing team and we regularly exchange feedback with them," KLM said. "This practice continually improves the airplanes for our passengers and we see that in the performance of our 787 fleet, including the new 787-10 that is now in service."

United Airlines gave the plant above-average marks in its survey results, but still noted 20 issues when it inspected a 787-10 that was delivered in April, including two dented panels.

American Airlines complained about a program that allowed Boeing's mechanics to inspect most of their own work, speeding production by eliminating a second reviewer. The airline said that problems not being caught ended up slowing down the production process, delaying test flights.

In a statement provided to Business Insider, a spokesman for American, Ross Feinstein, said that the airline had full confidence in its fleet of Dreamliners. American currently has 42 of the plane, with 47 more on order.

"American monitors the manufacturing process of our aircraft on-site, and inspects each aircraft from start to finish," he said. "Prior to taking delivery of any aircraft, our team conducts additional inspections. Lastly, once we take delivery of an aircraft, it is flown to one of our maintenance bases for additional inspections, prior to any aircraft entering commercial service."

Read more: I flew first-class in Delta's 6-month-old A220, the plane Boeing tried to keep out of the US

Airlines inspect and run test flights on newly delivered planes before they begin flying passengers, meaning any production or safety issues should be caught before the plane ever enters service.

However, the process of fixing these issues can take time, and with Boeing already struggling to meet an ambitious production schedule, that can cause logistical problems for both the planemaker and the airline.

When Singapore Airlines received a 787-10 in April, it noticed several missing pieces and a scratched cockpit window, noting that the delivery process was problematic compared to past deliveries of other variants of the jet.

"It doesn't help that resources were stretched, resulting in slow rectification of these issues," the airline said in the survey, according to The Post and Courier.

In a statement provided to Business Insider, Singapore Airlines said it was fully satisfied with the jet.

"We have not experienced significant quality issues with the 787-10 aircraft that we have taken delivery of from Boeing," the airline said.

KLM also noted that the Boeing staff seems to be stretched thin, potentially affecting quality control standards. 

"A lot of Boeing personnel, factory and management, works way too much overtime," the airline said. "In this customer's opinion this reflects in quality and the inability to make schedule."

Etihad, an Abu Dhabi-based airline, noted that aside from impacting quality, Boeing was not communicating the delays, which could cause issues when the airline is building its future schedules.

"Consequently, we had to find out the true status of the airline on our own and the hard way," Etihad said. It described the delivery as "very bad and not good for Boeing and Etihad."

Read more: Boeing says it could suspend 737 Max production if grounding continues, putting tens of thousands of jobs at risk

The problems come as Boeing faces intense scrutiny over the 737 Max planes, which are built in Boeing's Renton, Washington, factory. Two crashes involving the 737 Max plane in October 2018 and March 2019 killed a total of 346 people, and forced the plane to be grounded worldwide.

Boeing has faced criticism that it rushed development of the Max in order to catch up with rival Airbus, which had unveiled an updated version of its successful A320 family of planes.

As the Max remains grounded and Boeing faces mounting costs from delivery delays, the planemaker is more dependent on revenue from the 787 and its upcoming 777X to offset losses. 

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