Boeing needs the mid-seal fix certification plan before the FAA will approve its ETOPS flight-test programme.
A mid-seal issue affecting GE Aerospace’s GE9X turbofan is holding up Boeing’s progress obtaining the 777-9’s extended-range approval and in bringing the long-delayed jet over the finish line.
But Boeing chief executive Kelly Ortberg insists that despite the engine problem, Boeing still aims to begin delivering 777-9s next year.
The mid-seal issue is not new; Boeing disclosed it in January.
GE has said the part is less durable than expected and has responded by redesigning the mid-seal.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not yet approved the fix.
Speaking during a Morgan Stanley investor conference on 16 September, Ortberg says the FAA will not approve Boeing’s flight-test plan for the 777-9’s extended-range twin-operations (ETOPS) certification until receiving GE’s plan for certificating the GE9X mid-seal fix.
“We still do not have ETOPS authorisations… That’s related to the mid-seal issue we’ve got with the engine,” Ortberg says. “Until we get the mid-seal certification plan complete, we can’t get authorisation to start that ETOPS [flight testing]. We’re expecting that very soon.”
“That’s probably going to cause us a little bit of a challenge between now and the end of the year,” he adds.
Boeing has intended to begin 777-9 ETOPS flight tests after achieving the aircraft’s type certification.
ETOPS delays aside, Ortberg says the type certification programme is going well, with Boeing continuing to “tick off the flight tests” required under the 777-9’s type inspection authorisation (TIA).
“We’re still planning on 2027 deliveries,” he says.
Boeing does not need, but certainly prefers, to have the ETOPS certification prior to starting 777-9 deliveries. The approval will allow airlines to fly the jet across oceans and other remote regions – missions for which Boeing designed it.
In June, 777-9 vice-president Terry Beezhold said the 777-9 will enter service with a 180min ETOPS clearance.
While Ortberg says the ETOPS effort hinges on the mid-seal redesign certification plan, the mid-seal need not be certificated prior to the FAA granting the ETOPS certification, GE chief financial officer Rahul Ghai said on 17 September.
“The ETOPS certification does not need the new mid-seal. The existing mid-seal works. That was always the plan,” he says, speaking during the same Morgan Stanley event.
The mid-seal balances power between the GE9X’s turbine stages. It “connects the front and the back of the engine,” says Ghai, calling the prior design “not as durable as we had expected”.
GE has since redesigned the part and is working to achieve FAA certification.
“FAA is doing the testing,” says Ghai. “That should get completed here in the next few months.”
He insists GE has “thoroughly” tested the redesign and expresses a “huge degree of confidence” in the changes.
GE has already incorporated the new mid-seal into its production system and this quarter started delivering updated GE9Xs to Boeing.
Ortberg also warned on 16 September that the 777-9 timeline would be upset in the case of a strike by employees represented by the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA).
Boeing is now negotiating a new four-year contract with the union, and members are set soon to vote on the company’s latest proposal.
“We’re working very hard to try to avoid any kind of a work stoppage. That’s our key… priority, because that impact would be significant,” Ortberg says.
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