Boeing has cut its planned 2021 787 production from six to five jets monthly in response to the long-haul air travel sector’s lack of recovery. Chief financial officer Greg Smith announced the further rate cut on 4 December during a transportation conference hosted by Credit Suisse. “We’ve made a modest adjustment to the 787 production rate from what we’d previously announced,” Smith says. The Chicago airframer delivered no 787s in November, he adds. Boeing will hit the five-monthly-rate by the middle of next year, and until then intends to produce less than ten jets monthly. The rate change comes as Boeing accumulates an increasing fleet of undelivered 787s; deliveries of the jets have been hampered by the pandemic and by special inspections being conducted by Boeing. In 2019, Boeing was making 14 787s monthly. Then the pandemic struck, leading Boeing in July to announce plans to reduce 787 production to six jets monthly next year. The pandemic also forced Boeing’s decision to stop making 787s in Everett in 2021. It will shift all 787 manufacturing to its other 787 site in North Charleston, South Carolina. Smith attributes the new five-monthly 787 rate to lack of rebound in international travel. “Clearly, international passenger traffic is still the hardest hit, remaining at about 90% below 2019 levels at this time last year, which is impacting the overall near-term demand for widebody markets,” Smith says. Boeing delivered just 53 787s this year through November – equating to less than five jets monthly, on average. The delivery slowdown has caused Boeing’s stockpile of undelivered 787s to swell. That stockpile now stands at 56 jets. Boeing’s undelivered inventory included 31 787s at the end of July, data shows. Covid-related travel restrictions and sunken demand have slowed deliveries, but so too have airframe inspections being completed by Boeing, the airframer has said. In September, Boeing said it was inspecting jets, following reports of issues with rear fuselage sections and with shims. “The additional time that we are taking to inspect and ensure that each of our 787s are delivered to the highest-quality standard is taking longer than we previously anticipated,” Smith says. Still, he insists the 787 has a bright future. “We do remain very confident in the long-term outlook, and certainly the health of the 787,” he says. “The long-term potentials, post-pandemic, are very robust.”

European low-cost carrier Ryanair has ordered 75 more Boeing 737 Max aircraft, lifting its firm commitments to the type to 210. The airline announced the fresh deal during a joint press briefing with Boeing today. It comes shortly after US regulators cleared the Max jet to resume services after its 20-month grounding and marks the first fresh commitment for the type since the FAA's approval. The carrier was originally set to take delivery of its first Max 200 – a specially-configured higher-density version of the twinjet, which Ryanair is calling the Max-8200 – just before the grounding of type in the spring of 2019. Ryanair today says deliveries will begin in "early" 2021. "Ryanair and Boeing have agreed revised delivery dates, and have also agreed compensation for the direct costs incurred by Ryanair over the past 18 months due to these delivery delays, although some of this compensation has been factored into a modest reduction in the pricing of this new aircraft order which has encouraged Ryanair to increase the firm order from 135 to 210 aircraft," the airline says. Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary states: "We are going to compress that order so we are going to take them faster. We hope to take delivery of at least 50 of these aircraft in 2021, subject to Boeing recovering its manufacturing output to deliver them." Ryanair initially ordered 100 firm 737 Max 8s in 2014 – along with 100 options. It has since added 35 more firm commitments for the type. It also held 75 Max options.

The Federal Aviation Administration is requiring Boeing 787 operators to update aircraft flight manuals to include new localiser-approach procedures. The move follows several incidents involving 787s crews experiencing issues during localiser approaches to Hong Kong, and comes after the FAA addressed 787 localiser issues in a 24 September airworthiness bulletin. The agency outlined new required procedures in an airworthiness directive (AD) made public on 3 December. The new procedures call for crew, when conducting localiser-based approaches, to “monitor localiser raw data and call out any significant deviations”, the AD says. “Perform an immediate go-around if the airplane has not intercepted the final approach course as shown by the localiser deviation,” it adds. The AD applies to all three 787 variants and takes effect on 18 December. It responds to reports in which 787 autopilot flight director systems (AFDS) failed to “transition to the instrument landing system localiser beam”, it says. Failures happened “after the consistent-localiser-capture function in the flight-control modules initiated a transition to capture [the localiser) during approach”, the AD adds. Such failures “could result in localiser overshoot, leading to glideslope descent on the wrong heading”, the AD says. “Combined with a lack of flight-deck effects for a consistent localiser capture mode failure, this condition could result in a controlled flight into terrain.” Boeing has “been working closely with the FAA and other regulators on this issue, and we are fully in agreement with” the AD, the airframer says. “Boeing has previously provided information to 787 operators, including instructions to pilots to monitor data closely on certain approaches, which is in line with the FAA’s directive,” the Chicago company adds. “Boeing is also in the process of developing and implementing a permanent solution in an expedient manner.” The FAA order does not cite specific incidents. But it comes after several 787s suffered localiser-related issues during approaches made to Hong Kong from the east. The agency’s September airworthiness bulletin says that during recent events, 787 flight director systems partially reduced localiser intercept angles when intercepting localisers at angles of 40° or more. The jets initially turned toward the localiser headings, then stopped turning and flew constant headings, intercepting runways at angles of 20-30°.