United, JAL and ANA have all temporarily grounded their Dreamliners pending further safety tests on the on-board batteries.
Following on from the grounding of the Boeing B787 Dreamliner by JAL and ANA (see story here) after an emergency landing yesterday morning (see here), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has in the US issued an “emergency airworthiness directive” that requires all Dreamliners to “temporarily cease operations.”
The present concerns are centred around lithium batteries on the Boeing aircraft. The FAA’s statement says that “Before further flight, operators of US-registered Boeing 787 aircraft must demonstrate to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that the batteries are safe.”
The grounding of the aircraft is causing significant disruption to flights with both ANA and JAL, which together have 24 B787 aircraft in their fleets. There are currently some 50 Dreamliners in service with eight airlines worldwide. For more more details, see Business Traveller's full report on the Dreamliner here.
Tom Otley
