Boeing Components Not Up to Standards, 7 Under Investigation in Brindisi: "Flight Safety at Risk"

Two aerospace companies from Brindisi allegedly supplied non-compliant aeronautical components to Leonardo-Aerostrutture for the production of an aircraft, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. According to the Brindisi Public Prosecutor's Office, which investigated 7 people and two companies , this resulted in the creation of aircraft parts "with significantly lower static and stress resistance characteristics, with implications for transport safety ". Pure titanium was allegedly used to create structural components for the aircraft, instead of titanium alloy , and the aluminium alloys used also differed from those expected. For these facts, the Brindisi Public Prosecutor's Office issued a notice of conclusion of preliminary investigations against seven people and two companies, believed to be involved in a criminal association aimed at committing crimes ranging from attacks on transport safety, to environmental pollution, to commercial fraud.

The investigations led to the seizure of approximately 6,000 airplane parts for subsequent quality tests, made - according to the investigations - of material other than that envisaged by the project specifications. The consultancy ordered by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Brindisi and carried out by technicians specialized in the aerospace sector have certified - as stated in a note from the Brindisi prosecutors - the non-conformity of at least 4,829 components made of titanium and at least 1,158 aluminum components.

At the end of the assessments, it was ascertained that some non-compliant structural components could, in the long term, create damage to the safety of the aircraft, requiring the American company to start an extraordinary maintenance campaign for the aircraft involved. In this investigative branch, the commission of crimes of attempted transport safety and commercial fraud, in an associative form, by the directors of the two Brindisi companies is contested. The investigation follows a previous investigation (concluded in 2021) which had led to the seizure of the corporate assets of the two companies for bankruptcy reasons, to three arrests and to the reporting of four other suspects.

(Online Union)