US planemaker Boeing has detected that its largest supplier improperly drilled holes in a component that helps maintain cabin pressure of the 737Max jet, news agency Bloomberg reported. This discovery wil threaten to derail delivery targets for its best-selling model. The latest update for Boeing’s cash-cow jet isn't a safety threat, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Wednesday. However, it’s another complication for Boeing as it speeds the manufacturing pace of the 737 family while dealing with supply-chain strains and the aftermath of a strike at Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc., the supplier that builds about 70 per cent of the narrowbody jet frames.
Boeing said, “During factory inspections, we identified fastener holes that did not conform to our specifications in the aft pressure bulkhead on certain 737 airplanes.” According to the company, the inspections have revealed that hundreds of misaligned and duplicated holes in some aircraft, according to a report by The Air Current.
Shares of Boeing declined nearly 4.2 per cent in after-hours trading on reports of the new Max issue. The stock had jumped 20 per cent this year through Wednesday’s close as demand surges for travel and new jetliners.
According to Bloomberg, the glitch will cause some delay in delivering 737 jets, including snarling a plane going to the Malaysian Airline System, as Boeing conducts inspections and determines how many models were affected and what work they need. Boeing is evaluating whether it will be able to reach its target of delivering 400 to 450 of the 737-family jets this year.
This is not the first time Boeing encountered problems for the 737 Max. The jet was grounded by regulators worldwide after deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019, which killed the hundreds of passengers on board. The model’s flight prohibition order was lifted in November 2020 in the US after Boeing made a series of software upgrades and training changes. Other nations then variously followed.