PARIS, FRANCE — Boeing’s big new 777X jet, the first of which rolled out of the Everett assembly plant in early March, cannot fly until at least the fall because of a problem with the new GE9X engine.
The long delay is a blow to Boeing, already struggling to cope with the crisis in its single-aisle 737 Max jet program.
In a revelation that stunned journalists at the Paris Air Show, Bill Fitzgerald, the head of commercial jet engines at GE Aviation, said his engineers already have a fix but that extensive testing is required for certification of the engines before retrofitting the fix to the eight engines already delivered to Boeing.
Boeing won’t fly the 777X until the engine is certified, said GE Aviation chief executive David Joyce.
