The US Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) recent directive requiring inspections of 895 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft is expected to potentially impact more than 18 million seats across around 64,000 flights worldwide over the next month. Major airlines such as All Nippon Airways (ANA), Qatar Airways, American Airlines, United Airlines and Air Europa, among others, will face significant challenges from August 20th to September 20th, potentially leading to global travel disruptions.
The mandatory inspections requested by the FAA are in response to an incident in March involving a sudden mid-air plunge of a LATAM Airlines Boeing 787-9, which resulted in injuries to more than 50 passengers. The FAA announcement implies that inspections and corrective actions should be performed in the potentially loose or non-functional rocker switch caps or switch cover assemblies on the back of the Captain’s and First Officer’s seats on certain Boeing 787-8, -9 and –10 airplanes currently operating worldwide. This malfunction is allegedly behind five similar reports, with two still under investigation.
Mabrian’s global travel intelligence platform has forecast the impact of this mandatory inspection based on analysis of the scheduled flights and seat availability (one-way) in programmed routes from August 20th to September 20th, 2024, of all Boeing 787 aircraft affected by the FAA’s Airworthiness Directive (AD), issued on August 20th, 2024.
The data shows that over 64,000 flights, equivalent to slightly more than 18 million seats, could be compromised; and 92% of such flights are scheduled in 787-8 and 787-9 models. In terms of availability, 58% of the total seats affected are scheduled in B787-9 aircraft, and over a third in B787-8 planes.
This mandatory inspection does not imply that all these planes need to be grounded at the same time, as airlines have 30 days to complete it and fix any malfunctions, but it will pose a massive challenge in an already tight summer and post-summer schedule, which could cause delays and cancellations worldwide.
The most affected air carriers, which need to cushion a larger impact derived from this FAA directive will be All Nippon Airways and Qatar Airways; as well as Hainan Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines.
Among the list of the airlines that should manage their schedules in the next month to attend to this mandatory inspection are Asian carriers such as Japan Airlines, Singapore Airlines, and China Southern Airlines; and key airlines catering to Middle East and Asia long-haul routes, such as Etihad Airways and Turkish Airlines.
Moreover, world carriers that connect America and Europe, in particular the United Airlines, as well as American Airlines, Air Canada, LATAM Airlines, and Air Europa, will also be forced to re-organise seats and flights over the coming month.
According to a statement from Boeing, “as described in the Airworthiness Directive, a seat manufacturer sent B787 operators a service bulletin in mid-July with additional guidance and inspection procedures on this issue. We fully support the FAA’s Airworthiness Directive which makes mandatory a supplier’s guidance to B787 operators.”
