Italy Probes Two Firms Over Unsafe Parts Supplied to Boeing Contractor, Ansa Says

By Flavia Rotondi

October 05, 2024 at 11:24AM EDT

An employee works on the tail of a Boeing Co. Dreamliner 787 plane on the production line at the company's final assembly facility in North Charleston, South Carolina, U.S., on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016. On the day President-elect Donald Trump lashed out at Boeing Co. for the cost of replacing Air Force One, mechanics and engineers at the planemaker's South Carolina factory were focused on another challenge: making the first 787-10 Dreamliner. The manufacturer is counting on the newest and longest Dreamliner to help turn its marquee carbon-fiber jet into a cash machine. (Travis Dove/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Two Italian aerospace companies and seven people are being investigated for allegedly supplying non-compliant aeronautical components to Leonardo SpA for the production of some sections of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the Ansa newswire reported on Saturday citing Italian prosecutors.

The two firms, based in Brindisi in southern Italy, allegedly used pure titanium to manufacture structural components of the aircraft, instead of titanium alloys, and also utilized sub-standard aluminum alloys, according to the report. The companies weren’t identified.

The practice resulted in significantly lower static and stress resistance, impacting transport safety, Ansa reported.

Leonardo, an aerospace and defense manufacturer whose customers include Boeing Co. and Airbus SE, declined to comment. Prosecutors and police in Brindisi didn’t respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.