Boeings Shock Confession: 30 New 777-9 Jets Are "DEFECTIVE" May Take Decades To Repair!

Added: 2026-04-28

[00:00:00]Well, in a shocking revelation that is reverberating throughout the aviation world during its April 23rd first quarter 2026 earnings call, Boeing announced that 30 completed Boeing 77-9 aircraft currently in storage will need significant structural modifications before they can be certified and sold to customers, marking another setback for the troubled widebody program. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg confirmed that the jets will require a comprehensive rework to incorporate design changes and engineering updates that emerged during extensive ground and FAA test flight phases. Additionally, while Boeing is dealing with this setback, GE Aerospace, the exclusive supplier of the GE9X engine that powers the trip 7X, is simultaneously working on a fix for a midseal durability issue discovered in January of 2026 during a shop visit.

[00:00:57]However, even with this major setback for the program, Boeing still is targeting the jet's first delivery in 2027 with Lufanza, which is still expected to serve as the launch customer. However, if you think this news sounds like it's a big deal, well, you are right because it is. But to put that all into perspective, using the conservative figure of about $585 million per jet, which airlines are paying for the new Super Jumbo, multiply that 30 times, and that almost amounts to a staggering possible revenue loss for Boeing of about $18 billion. Yes, billion with a B dollar. if Boeing isn't able to find a fix and sell these jets.

[00:01:41]And even if they can fix them, Boeing said it could take up to a decade or more. Speaking during the company's first quarter earnings call on Wednesday, April 23rd, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said Boeing has created a dedicated team to handle what it calls changing corporation work on completed aircraft as Boeing prepares the trip 79 for entry into service in 2027. Orberg told investors that we've got roughly 30 trip 77s that will go through this change incorporation process over several years and this rework will come at a hefty cost to Boeing at a time when they are struggling to deliver the jet to customers who have been waiting for years for their new aircraft. Okay, so what exactly is going on with these jets and why do they need to be fixed? While Boeing built these aircraft over several years, while the trip 7X program navigated repeated certification delays, design changes, and production improvements, Ortberg explained that the company will bring all affected aircraft down to a common configuration level before applying the final changes, calling this approach the most efficient path forward. The scope of work varies by airframe and airframe age. Older aircraft demand more extensive modifications, including structural changes, while newer jets only need minor upgrades. The CEO said that Boeing's change incorporation team will manage the process. Each aircraft carries a unique scope of work and the team is currently defining the full statement of work for every jet in the queue. This major announcement comes as the trip 7 certification program has advanced to the type inspection authorization or TIA phase 4A which the FAA approved on March 17, 2026. This phase focuses on natural icing tests and Boeing prioritized completing this work while suitable icing conditions remained available in Alaska. Hort noted the importance of capturing this seasonal weather window to avoid delays and searching for icing conditions later.

[00:03:50]TIA phase 4 is split into two sections.

[00:03:54]Phase 4 A, which describes as not a super large package, centers on icing evaluations. Phase 4B, expected very soon, represents a significantly larger block of tests and will be critical for continuing the flight test campaign.

[00:04:10]Together, phases 4 A and 4B, account for roughly the same volume of testing as the earlier phase 3, which began in November of 2025 and focused on avionics and primary flight control systems.

[00:04:24]After completing phases 4 A and 4B, the program moves into phase 5, the final TIA stage. That phase will be followed by FNR or functionality and reliability testing and finally ETOPS or extended operation trials before the FAA can grant a final type certification. Boeing has accumulated more than 4,000 hours of 77-9 flight testing across four dedicated test aircraft WH00001 through WH004.

[00:04:56]Though not all hours qualify toward certification credit. And that brings us to the GE9X engine problems. GE identified a durability problem in the midseal component of the GE9X engine in January of 2026 during a routine shop engine inspection following a flight test. The engine's midseals balance temperature and pressure between turbine stages inside the engine core. During the inspection, a crack was discovered in one seal, which prompted a full investigation. GE CEO Larry Culp confirmed that the engineers have identified the root cause and are ramping supplier production for the redesigned component. However, despite the issue, Boeing CEO Warberg stated that the engine problem is not impacting the flight test program. Still, both Boeing and GE insist that these setbacks will not push to trip 79 certification beyond the current 2027 delivery timeline. The GE9X, which received its FAA type certification in September of 2020, remains the largest and most powerful commercial turboan engine ever built. So, how will this impact major airlines waiting for the delivery of their new trip 7 jets? Well, as I said earlier, Lufansza remains positioned as the launch operator for the trip 7-9.

[00:06:18]The trip 7X order book includes commitments from several major carriers, including Emirates, the largest customer with 270 aircraft on order. Emirates has been navigating the delivery delay by launching a large-scale retrofit program across its existing Boeing 77 and Airbus A380 fleets to manage capacity during the extended delay. And as for the others, the program's delays have forced airlines to extend operations of older widebody types, including the Boeing 747-8 and the trip 7300 ER. And finally, I recently featured a video referencing the 787 Dreamliner program and the terrible teens. They're called the Terrible Teens because many of the non-conforming aircraft were between the 10th and 20th Dreamliners ever built.

[00:07:08]Like the trip 7X program, the 787 program was beset by technical problems that delayed the debut of the plane by more than three years. The terrible teens were some of the first Dreamlininers to roll off of Boeing's production line at the time when the company had not quite completed the development process of the plane. As a result, these planes require significant modifications, including heavy structural reinforcement that makes the teens much heavier than the current versions of the 787. And still, even now, 15 years after its launch, Boeing is still looking for customers to buy the black sheep aircraft as recently as last year. And Boeing began selling off these terrible teens, not to airlines, but to salvage yards so that they can be scrapped for the much needed parts for the Dreamliner. So, does a similar fate awake the trip 7X? Well, [music] only time will tell. And for those of you that are still here, you know I always look forward to hearing from you. So, please be sure to lend your voice to the conversation and let me [music] know down below.