Japan’s ANA Grounds Boeing 787s Over Engine Problem

Japan’s biggest airline has started grounding its fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners after discovering a problem with the plane’s Rolls-Royce engines, in another setback for the troubled aircraft.

ANA’s decision to replace a key engine part, possibly on all 50 of its Dreamliners, is the latest in a series of glitches to have plagued the fuel-efficient plane since it made its maiden commercial flight – three years behind schedule – in late 2011.

The groundings are expected to lead to the cancellation of at least 350 flights on ANA’s Japanese domestic routes through to the end of next month, according to the Nikkei business newspaper.

The carrier cancelled nine flights on Friday, affecting more than 3,000 passengers and costing the airline an estimated 55m yen (£414,000) in lost revenue.

ANA is the world’s biggest operator of Dreamliners; its domestic rival, Japan Airlines (JAL), operates 30 787s, but they are fitted with a different type of engine.

The problem came to light while ANA and Boeing engineers were investigating the cause of an incident in February, when an ANA 787 had to return to Kuala Lumpur airport after one of its engines overheated. (end of excerpt)

Click here for the full story, on The Guardian website.

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