the COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting impact on aviation, Boeing announced on October 1, 2020, that it would consolidate all of its 787 assembly at the South Carolina factory. The move was completed in February 2021. Quality-control issues The South Carolina plant has been accused of shoddy production and ignoring safety defects in its airplanes in favor of meeting deadlines. In 2019, following the discovery of exterior damage on planes manufactured in Charleston, for a time Qatar Airways would only accept delivery of Dreamliners assembled in Everett. Later that same year KLM, which had discovered loose seats, missing and incorrectly installed pins, nuts and bolts not fully tightened and a fuel-line clamp left unsecured on its jet, complained that the standard of manufacture was "way below acceptable standards." Early in 2020, Boeing engineers discovered depressions in the 787's vertical tail fin, which could lead to structural failure under limited loads, affecting hundreds of planes or the vast majority of the fleet. Eight 787s were grounded due to the issue, which had been discovered in August 2019 at the South Carolina plant, but were delivered to customers anyway. The company received further criticism after it was revealed that Boeing had eliminated 900 quality inspectors at about the same time that they failed to detect or stop the issues. In September 2020, Boeing admitted that the FAA was investigating quality-control lapses dating back to the introduction of the 787 in 2011 and considering requiring additional inspections for up to 900 of the roughly 1,000 Dreamliners in service. By January 2021, Boeing had halted 787 deliveries to complete the inspection relating to the ongoing quality control issues. The halt was only expected to last a month, but stretched on for more than a year, except for a brief restart between March and May 2021. Amid the ongoing investigation, the FAA stripped Boeing of its delegated authority to inspect and sign off on 787 aircraft until the company can, "demonstrate consistent quality, stable delivery processes, and a robust plan for the rework needed on the undelivered aircraft in storage." Since the January 2021 stop in deliveries, FAA has rejected several plans from Boeing to address the issues. , Boeing has not submitted a plan to inspect and repair already constructed planes, indicating a further delay of weeks or months before the resumption of deliveries. The South Carolina plant continues to build planes at a