American Airlines plans to take delivery as early as Aug. 10 of a Boeing 787, snapping a nearly 15-month pause for the North Charleston wide-body jet.
The carrier said it expects to pick up the 787-8 from the planemaker's South Carolina assembly plant "as early as" Wednesday but did not elaborate.
"This will be American's first 787 delivery since April 2021," the airline said in a statement to The Post and Courier and other media outlets. "The aircraft, with registration number N880BJ, will be delivered from Charleston and is expected to enter commercial service in the coming weeks."
The delivery would bring the number of Dreamliners in the American Airlines fleet to 47, with another 42 on order.
The Texas-based carrier recently announced that it expects to pick up two 787s in August and several more throughout the rest of the year.
"We appreciate the work done by the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing during the review process," it said.
The FAA on Monday confirmed that it approved an inspection protocol that allows Boeing Co. to resume deliveries and generate much-needed revenue for the South Carolina-based program.
"Boeing has made the necessary changes to ensure that the 787 Dreamliner meets all certification standards," it said.
The safety agency also said it will certify each plane.
The FAA essentially grounded the program in May 2021 because of multiple production flaws that have required extensive inspections and repairs.
American was hit particularly hard. It had planned to take ownership of 13 Dreamliners last year but received only one, in April 2021, about a month before the safety crackdown took effect.
The airline was later forced to cut back its 2022 overseas schedule by canceling or curtailing certain long-haul international flights to Scotland, Ireland and Hong Kong this summer because of the delivery delays.
Even so, American was "very happy" with the fleet of 787s it was already operating, Brian Znotins, vice president of network planning, told The Post and Courier in December.
"We think Boeing has built a great airplane," Znotins said. "We just wish they could deliver it."
Now it can.
American said it plans to issue a written statement once it takes possession of its newest 787-8, suggesting the delivery won't be open to the news media.
