One of Boeing’s 777-9 test aircraft returned to the skies on 16 January, ending a four-month grounding of the 777-9 test fleet and indicating some progress in Boeing’s effort to conclude the type’s long-delayed certification programme.
The aircraft, registration N779XY, took off from Boeing Field in Seattle at 14:10 local time and landed at the same airport about 2h later, according to flight tracking websites.
Reuters reported the news on 16 January.
Boeing declines to comment about the purpose of the flight or the state of the 777-9 flight- and certification-test programme.
“We continue to execute a rigorous test programme to demonstrate the safety, performance and reliability of the 777-9,” Boeing says.
The programme was already significantly behind schedule when the company in late August last year confirmed it halted 777-9 test flights after discovering that an engine-related structural component had failed.
That component, called a thrust link, transfers thrust from the 777-9’s 105,000lb (467kN)-thrust GE Aerospace GE9X turbofans to the aircraft’s structure.
Following that discovery, Boeing embarked on an investigation to understand the cause of the failure and to determine a solution.
In October, Boeing delayed its expected first 777-9 delivery from 2025 to 2026, with chief executive Kelly Ortberg citing “challenges we have faced in development, as well as from the flight-test pause”.
Boeing has four 777-9 flight-test aircraft. Besides the jet that flew on 16 January, two have not been airborne since August last year and the other last flew in November 2021.
