On February 19th, the FAA will publish an Airworthiness Directive (AD) requiring completing checks of approximately 222 Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

The FAA has raised concerns over the jet’s decompression panels in the bilge barriers. The directive requires close visual inspection of the bilge barriers located in the forward and aft cargo compartments.  If the inspectors find any disengaged or damaged decompression panels, the company will have to replace and reinstall them urgently.

Initial inspections will have to be completed by the end of next month, 45 days following the AD’s publication. Within 120 days, the checks will have to be performed repeatedly. According to FlightGlobal, the FAA estimates that every inspection cycle will cost $56,610.

Although the directive is new, the issue with the panels is not. A service bulletin for inspection of the bilge barriers was issued back in 2016, and, as a result, the specific problem was discovered.