Dreamliner Crisis: Now FAA grounds planes
The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded all US-registered Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft to address a possible battery fire risk.
"As a result of an in-flight, Boeing 787 battery incident earlier today in Japan, the FAA will issue an emergency airworthiness directive (AD) to address a potential battery fire risk in the 787 and require operators to temporarily cease operations," the US regulator said in a statement.
"Before further flight, operators of US-registered, Boeing 787 aircraft must demonstrate to the Federal Aviation Administration that the batteries are safe," it said.
The FAA said it would work with Boeing and carriers to develop a corrective action plan "to allow the US 787 fleet to resume operations as quickly and safely as possible".
United Airlines, the world’s biggest airline, is currently the only US airline operating the 787, with six airplanes in service.
Qantas insists it is still on track to receive the first of its 787 Dreamliners in the second half of this year despite two Japanese airlines grounding their fleets of the new aircraft.
British Airways said it will press ahead with its order for 24 Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
ANA has grounded all of its 17 Dreamliners while JAL suspended 787 flights after one ANA Dreamliner made an emergency landing after an instrument indicated a battery error.
The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association’s president, Paul Cousins, said the Japanese airline’s decision to ground its Dreamliner fleet was the correct one.
"It is good to see an airline take a proactive stance. They should be applauded for doing it," he told Fairfax newspapers.
Cousins said he expected Qantas "will be on the phone to Boeing asking what is going on".
"At the moment there is no doubt that [the 787 program] is having teething problems that are out of the ordinary," he said.
Qantas said that it still expected its budget offshoot, Jetstar, to take delivery of the group’s first 787s in the second half of this year.
Air New Zealand is also buying eight Dreamliners, the first of which is due in 2014.
Ian Jarrett
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