A Boeing 777x aircraft during an aerial display on the opening day of the Farnborough International Airshow in Farnborough, UK, Monday, July 18, 2022.
Jason Alden | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Boeing announced Monday that it has suspended flight tests of its 777X after discovering damage to a structure on one of the wide-body jets.
Boeing said it discovered the damage to the custom part, which sits between the engine and the plane’s structure, during scheduled maintenance. The other three 777-9s in its test fleet have since been grounded. No further flight tests were planned for the other planes, Boeing said.
“Our team is replacing the part and recovering the benefits of this component and will resume flight testing when ready,” Boeing said in a statement. The manufacturer said it has notified the FAA and its customers, who have ordered 481 of the 777X, according to Boeing’s website.
It was not immediately clear whether the grounding and problem would impact certification and delivery of the new wide-body jets, which are scheduled for 2025, about five years behind schedule. Boeing began flight testing the plane with the Federal Aviation Administration in July, a milestone.
The news, reported earlier by The Air Current, comes as Boeing executives, including new CEO Kelly Ortberg, try to steer the company out of a safety crisis that began with a door failure earlier this year.
