The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an airworthiness directive requiring inspections of fuel tank sealant installations on certain Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, raising questions about whether Thai Airways will need to inspect its fleet of 23 Dreamliners.
The directive concerns 60 Boeing 787 aircraft identified as potentially affected by shortcomings in the quality inspection process for sealant materials inside the centre wing fuel tank.
The FAA said some required quality checks during aircraft assembly may not have been completed, while documentation confirming that the inspections were properly carried out may also be missing.
The potential defect could pose a safety risk if required sealant is missing or incorrectly installed. According to the FAA’s warning, this could allow electrical sparks to occur inside a fuel tank. The risk could be particularly serious if an aircraft is struck by lightning, potentially igniting fuel vapour inside the tank.
The airworthiness directive is scheduled to take effect on December 7, 2026. It requires affected operators to conduct detailed inspections of sealant installations in the left, right and centre wing side-of-body areas.
The FAA estimates that the directive applies to 60 US-registered aircraft. This figure does not represent the total number of potentially affected Boeing 787s worldwide.
According to KhaoSod, Thai Airways has 23 Boeing 787 aircraft in its fleet. The airline operates the Dreamliner on international routes to destinations including Japan, China, Australia, Europe and South Asia.
However, the FAA’s estimate does not confirm that Thai Airways’ 23 aircraft are affected. The airline had not publicly commented on the directive or outlined any inspection plans for its Dreamliner fleet at the time of reporting.
Recently, a crack was reported in the cockpit window of a Thai Airways Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. The crack was detected during take-off of flight TG 663 from Shanghai to Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok.
This prompted the pilots to dump fuel before returning to Shanghai. All cabin crew members and passengers were confirmed to be safe.
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