Tokyo/Kyoto: US
and Japanese aviation safety officials investigating problems with Boeing
Co’s 787 Dreamliner visited the
headquarters of the plane’s battery maker on Monday, seeking clues into why one
of the technologically advanced aircraft made an emergency landing last week.
A spokesman for GS
Yuasa Corp, which
makes batteries for the 787, said the company was fully cooperating with the
investigation, and its engineers were working with the officials from the US
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Japan’s Civil Aviation Bureau (CAB)
at the company’s compound in Kyoto, where it makes airplane batteries.
CAB official Tatsuyuki
Shimazu told
reporters the investigating team had been briefed by GS Yuasa and had toured
the plant, looking at battery design, production and quality. The Japanese
investigation at the plant will continue on Tuesday on a more detailed level,
including tracking battery batch numbers and production dates, he said.
Authorities around the world last week grounded the new
lightweight Dreamliner, and Boeing halted deliveries after a problem with a
lithium-ion battery prompted an All Nippon Airways 787 into the emergency
landing at Takamatsu airport during a domestic flight. Earlier this month, a
similar battery caught fire in a Japan Airlines’ 787 parked at Boston Logan
International Airport.
Expanded Probe
US safety investigators on Sunday ruled out excess voltage as the
cause of the Boston battery fire on 7 January, and said they were expanding
their probe to look at the battery’s charger and the jet’s auxiliary power
unit. The battery is one part of the 787’s complex electrical system, built by
French companyThales
SA.
“Results have shown the battery was abnormal in both the Boston
and Takamatsu (incidents). They were the most damaged,” Shigeru Takano, a
senior safety official at the CAB, told reporters ahead of the on-site visit to
GS Yuasa. “We will look into if the work that took place, from design to
manufacturing, was appropriate.”
Shares in GS Yuasa, valued at close to $1.5 billion, rose 1% on
Monday, having dropped nearly 10% since the Boston fire. The benchmark Nikkei
fell 1.5%.
The company, which employs nearly 12,300 staff, expects revenue of
¥288 billion ($3.2 billion) in the year to end-March - with only around 1% of
that coming from its aircraft battery business. The company’s batteries are
used primarily in motorbikes, industrial equipment and power supply devices.
GS Yuasa, in which automaker Toyota
Motor Corp has a 2.7%
stake, reported an operating profit of around $160 million in the year to last
March.
More Flights Cancelled
The grounding of the Dreamliner, an advanced carbon-composite
plane with a list price of $207 million, has forced ANA to cancel 151 domestic
and 26 international flights scheduled for 23-28 January, affecting more than
21,000 passengers, the airline said on Monday.
The cancellations add to the 72 flights scheduled for 19-22
January that ANA called off last week. ANA, which flies the most Dreamliners of
any airline, said it will announce on Thursday its plans on flight
cancellations for dates from 29 January.
ANA said it had not yet decided whether to seek compensation from
Boeing for losses as a result of the 787’s grounding. “At this point we’re
concentrating on getting the Dreamliner back in service, rather than
considering requesting compensation,” said spokesman Ryosei Nomura.
Rival JAL said it cancelled four flights on its Tokyo-San Diego
route for 27-28 January, adding to the 8 flights originally scheduled for 19-25
January on the same route it called off last week. It said it had yet to decide
changes for flights slated for 26 January.
“We’ve been able to rearrange routes originally scheduled to use
the Dreamliner with alternative aircraft,” said JAL spokeswoman Sze Hunn Yap,
adding there was no talk about compensation at this stage.
Japan is the biggest market to date for the Dreamliner, with JAL
and ANA flying 24 of the 50 passenger jets that Boeing has delivered.
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