Boeing has discovered non-conformance in the way some holes were drilled in about 50 undelivered 737 jets. The supplier informed the company that “some fuselage holes on those planes may not have been drilled exactly to our requirements,” wrote Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stan Deal in an email to employees Sunday. Although the company says this potential condition does not pose an immediate flight safety issue and all 737s are still safe to operate, they currently believe they will have to perform rework on the 50 planes.
In unrelated news, Boeing has been facing public scrutiny since early January when a door plug fell out of a Boeing 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines shortly after takeoff. The Federal Aviation Administration said in January that it planned to increase its oversight over Boeing and begin an immediate audit of Boeing’s production and manufacturing. The Washington-based airplane manufacturer is likely to face further scrutiny as a result of the recent discovery of non-conformance in the undelivered 737 jets.