Boeing has been forced to halt the test campaign for the certification of its Boeing 777X widebody aircraft after a new issue was discovered on the aircraft during a certification flight this past Friday.

Boeing halt’s certification test campaign for the Boeing 777X

Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration have been operating the test flight campaign for over a month now. Before that, the fleet of four Boeing 777X aircraft was being used to test and perfect technology internally so that Boeing could take the plane to the regulator for certification.

The issue was first spotted on Boeing’s experimental aircraft WH003, registered N779XY, after a test flight in Hawaii. A post-flight airframe inspection discovered damage in a part of the aerostructure used to connect the engine to the wings and transfer the thrust to the airframe. These components were not built by GE, which manufactures the GE9X Turbofan engine for the 777X. The issue was first reported by The Air Current, which mentioned that engineers noticed cracks in a primary pylon structural component that mounts the plane’s new General Electric GE9X Turbofan engines to the wings.

Following the discovery, Boeing ordered additional checks of all its test 777X aircraft and discovered similar issues on two other planes. Test flights were suspended, and the entire fleet is now grounded as an investigation is underway.

While this setback may delay Boeing’s plans to bring the 777X to certification and commence delivery, it underscores the importance of the testing campaign. This process is designed to identify and address issues before the aircraft is considered airworthy and certified, a crucial safety measure that the OEM, regulators, and customers value.

Boeing has won over 500 orders for the 777X, including orders from customers including Lufthansa, Emirates, Qatar Airways, British Airways, Air India, Singapore Airlines, and Korean Air. No U.S. airline has ordered one.

An analyst, quoted by Bloomberg, already expects the delivery timeline of the 777X to move to 2026.

Bottomline

Boeing has halted the test campaign of the Boeing 777X, which was being conducted for certification purposes with the FAA right now. The OEM has discovered structural issues with some parts that connect the airframe and the engine and will resume testing after the component has been replaced. An analyst expects the delivery timeframe to move to 2026 now rather than the earlier 2025.

What do you think of the new delays in the Boeing 777-9 certification?

---

Liked our articles and our efforts? Please pay an amount you are comfortable with; an amount you believe is the fair price for the content you have consumed. Please enter an amount in the box below and click on the button to pay; you can use Netbanking, Debit/Credit Cards, UPI, QR codes, or any Wallet to pay. Every contribution helps cover the cost of the content generated for your benefit.

(Important: to receive confirmation and details of your transaction, please enter a valid email address in the pop-up form that will appear after you click the ‘Pay Now’ button. For international transactions, use Paypal to process the transaction.)

We are not putting our articles behind any paywall where you are asked to pay before you read an article. We are asking you to pay after you have read the article if you are satisfied with the quality and our efforts.