Is It Safe to Fly Boeing 787 Dreamliners?

Boeing is once again under scrutiny after a tragic Air India crash on June 12 involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The flight, en route from Ahmedabad to London, went down shortly after takeoff and has claimed at least 270 lives. Just days after the deadly crash, another Air India flight turned back on a route from Hong Kong to New Delhi due to technical issues and it, too, was a 787 Dreamliner.

Now, travelers have questions about whether or not it is safe to fly on Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner plane. (According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, there are 1,148 Boeing 787s in service worldwide.)

While there is an investigation looking into what caused the Air India disaster, no official determination has been issued yet. Because of the pending investigation, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is not currently planning on grounding the U.S. fleet of Boeing 787s. According to Simple Flying, the FAA does not have enough data to make that sweeping decision.  

At the time of publication, the Wall Street Journal reported that the AirIndia plane’s emergency-power generator was active when it crashed last week.

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said there needs to be more information before any decisions are made. “They have to get on the ground and take a look,” Duffy told Reuters. “But again right now it’d be way too premature. People are looking at videos and trying to assess what happened, which is never a strong, smart way to make decisions on what took place.”

This means that as the investigation continues, it is possible the FAA could decide to ground U.S. 787s. And with two major U.S. carriers (United Airlines and American Airlines) relying on the aircraft, a nationwide grounding would cause massive service disruptions. United is one of the largest operators of the Dreamliners in the world: in 2023, the carrier placed an order for 50 more of the planes and already has 78 Dreamliners in service, according to Planespotters.

This is not the first time the aviation giant has faced serious questions. Over the past five years, Boeing has been linked to a string of high-profile incidents, including two fatal crashes involving its 737 Max Max planes in Indonesia (2018) and Ethiopia (2019). More recently, in 2024, there were non-fatal incidents like a door flying off a Boeing plane and another jet dropping suddenly in altitude.

Despite the ongoing investigation, it is clear there are still safety concerns. Air India canceled five 787 flights since the Thursday crash. Even though safety checks were conducted on the planes, Air India cited a need for increased safety precautions, according to Aviation A2Z.

You can check for updates on the FAA’s decision regarding the Dreamliners on faa.gov.