Moody's: Prolonged 787 Review Is Credit Negative for Boeing

It could take "months and months" for the FAA to complete its 787 review and allow the airplane to fly again, former NTSB member John Goglia said in an interview Monday. "We just don't know enough," Goglia said. "We know that the battery overheated; it reaches a critical point and then it gets to 'thermal runaway.' That could be caused by a short circuit in the battery or by external factors. That's the problem, trying to identify the cause."

In his note, Solomon wrote: "This process will take more time, something that does not work in Boeing's favor. The longer it takes to identify the factors behind the battery failure and the systems designed to protect against fire, the longer it will take to implement satisfactory safeguards to prevent a recurrence."

Solomon called six months "an inflection point."

He would be troubled, he said, "once you get past six months of not having some resolution and not knowing it won't cause billions of dollars to fix." At that point, a perception of credit risk could lead to a negative outlook, rather than just a perception that a particular event is credit negative.

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-- Written by Ted Reed in Charlotte, N.C.

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