FAA faces obstacles in approving Boeing Dreamliner fix
"The NTSB has questioned the process Boeing and the FAA used to certify the plane."
"Weber speculated that the safety concerns may result in regulators restricting the 787's ability to make long flights over water, a standard known as ETOPS. Such a change would be a severe blow to Boeing and airlines that use the Dreamliner for long-haul direct flights with about 250 passengers, a highly lucrative market that the 787 can serve at 20 percent lower fuel cost than other planes."
A very confusing article. It seems to purposely plant this confusion by making competing claims of what level of safety is required.
Of course the FAA will be 1000 percent sure that it meets the regulated standards which are less than 100 % safe. All we should expect is the same level of safety that all new aircraft enter the fleet at.
That's why we code regulations so we have something to compare our sense of acceptable safety against, rather than a mix of weasel words by any person.