By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters] – While the Federal Aviation Administration’s head stated Thursday that the agency needed a Boeing (NYSE) “systemic fix”, he said that a new directive from the Federal Aviation Administration would not affect deliveries.

The FAA said Tuesday that it will not permit Boeing to selfcertify new Boeing 787 airplanes.

Steve Dickson, outgoing FAA Administrator, told reporters at a Thursday event that Boeing needed a systematic fix in its production process. They have to deliver the high quality product on their production lines that we expect and to which they have committed.”

The FAA said Tuesday it will retain the authority to issue airworthiness certificates until it is confident “Boeing’s quality control and manufacturing processes consistently produce 787s that meet FAA design standards.”

Boeing has not yet commented.

Dickson claimed that maintaining certification authority would increase confidence in stability of the processes because they will be there to view each aircraft’s results as it passes the line.

He stated that “I believe they have processes in place” and that the FAA was working with them “to make sure these kinds of random quality issues do not arise.” Individual planes approved by the FAA “isn’t going to be choke points but it will give an extra check and balance.”

Boeing delivered the 787 to its customers in May, but stopped the deliveries after concerns were raised by FAA regarding the inspection procedure. Two airworthiness directives had been issued by the regulatory agency to fix production problems for aircraft in service. A new problem was identified in July.

As U.S. regulators reviewed inspections and repairs, deliveries were halted. Delivery are likely to be frozen for at least six more months. Dickson did not predict when Boeing could resume deliveries.

The FAA said earlier it wants Boeing to ensure it “has a robust plan for the re-work that it must perform on a large volume of new 787s in storage” and that “Boeing’s delivery processes are stable.”

Boeing stated that the 787 program is still at an extremely low production rate. However, it will gradually increase to five per month.

According to the company, a charge of $3.5 billion was incurred due to customer concessions and delivery delays. Another $1 billion is owed to abnormal production costs for production defects and other inspections related to advanced composite jets.

Dickson claimed that Boeing is making progress. Dickson stated that he has not had issues with Boeing’s leadership during the past year. He said that he believes they are moving in the right directions.