BEIJING — For nearly two hours on Sunday morning a Boeing Dreamliner 787 cruised the skies above Japan, with Boeing chief of commercial aircraft, Ray Conner, and the All Nippon Airways president, Shinichiro Ito, on board.
The presence of the two top airline executives on the test flight appeared aimed at restoring confidence in a plane that was grounded in January after two incidents in which batteries overheated in two separate aircraft, leading to a lengthy and costly grounding of the fleet. Fixes designed by Boeing and approved by the Federal Aviation Administration have been made to the batteries and Japanese airline authorities ordered other safety measures, as my colleague Hiroko Tabuchi reported.
The ANA flight left Haneda airport in Tokyo at 8:59 a.m. local time and returned without incident at 10:54 a.m., Reuters reported, citing an airline spokesman.
Yuya Shino/Reuters Boeing’s chief of commercial aircraft, Ray Conner, (top,) and All Nippon Airways president Shinichiro Ito, (below,) disembark from an ANA Boeing 787 Dreamliner after a test flight at Tokyo’s Haneda airport Sunday.
What next for the hitherto-troubled Dreamliner? It’s the only large commercial airliner equipped with the lithium-ion battery as part of its power system (the battery is made by a Japanese company,) Bloomberg News reported.
It’s all about the fixes working, of course – but also about confidence, analysts said.
The fixes include better insulation between the eight cells in the battery, gentler charging to minimize stress and a new titanium venting system, The New York Times reported.
Enough? Akihiro Ota, the Japanese transportation minister, seemed to think so, saying at a news conference last week he was satisfied with the measures Boeing had taken to eliminate risks of fire. “They have adopted defense in depth,” Mr. Ota said.
But ANA plans at least 230 test flights in May before putting the aircraft back into commercial use, Reuters reported. It owns 17 of the 50 Dreamliners already delivered, while Japan Airlines owns seven. Ethiopian Airlines Saturday made the first commercial flight with a Dreamliner since January. JAL will begin test flying its Dreamliners in May and aims to resume normal operations in June, the airline said.
ANA said it intended to set up a dedicated Web site to address passenger concerns about the safety of the 787.
“It’s going to be difficult to get passengers to fly,” Ryota Himeno, an analyst at Barclays Securities in Japan, told Bloomberg. “ANA needs to invest a lot of time in flying the planes before customers come back.”
Japanese transportation authorities are aware of the challenge. “We will ask Japanese airlines to ensure the safety of passengers and provide them with information,” Mr. Ota, the transport minister, said last week.
Boeing rival Airbus has decided to abandon the battery in question, Bloomberg reported. It will not use lithium-ion batteries for its A350, the direct rival to the 787, after Boeing encountered problems. Airbus plans the first A350 deliveries next year, Bloomberg said.
Despite the problems, Boeing profits rose in the first quarter, according to reports.
“Our first priority in the days ahead is to fully restore our customers’ 787 fleets to service and resume production deliveries,” Boeing chairman Jim McNerney said in a statement last week. McNerney said that the company “worked around the clock to resolve the 787 battery issue,” while increasing deliveries of the 737 and 777 planes.
http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/confidence-issues-linger-as-the-dreamliner-soars-again/
The presence of the two top airline executives on the test flight appeared aimed at restoring confidence in a plane that was grounded in January after two incidents in which batteries overheated in two separate aircraft, leading to a lengthy and costly grounding of the fleet. Fixes designed by Boeing and approved by the Federal Aviation Administration have been made to the batteries and Japanese airline authorities ordered other safety measures, as my colleague Hiroko Tabuchi reported.
The ANA flight left Haneda airport in Tokyo at 8:59 a.m. local time and returned without incident at 10:54 a.m., Reuters reported, citing an airline spokesman.
Yuya Shino/Reuters Boeing’s chief of commercial aircraft, Ray Conner, (top,) and All Nippon Airways president Shinichiro Ito, (below,) disembark from an ANA Boeing 787 Dreamliner after a test flight at Tokyo’s Haneda airport Sunday.
What next for the hitherto-troubled Dreamliner? It’s the only large commercial airliner equipped with the lithium-ion battery as part of its power system (the battery is made by a Japanese company,) Bloomberg News reported.
It’s all about the fixes working, of course – but also about confidence, analysts said.
The fixes include better insulation between the eight cells in the battery, gentler charging to minimize stress and a new titanium venting system, The New York Times reported.
Enough? Akihiro Ota, the Japanese transportation minister, seemed to think so, saying at a news conference last week he was satisfied with the measures Boeing had taken to eliminate risks of fire. “They have adopted defense in depth,” Mr. Ota said.
But ANA plans at least 230 test flights in May before putting the aircraft back into commercial use, Reuters reported. It owns 17 of the 50 Dreamliners already delivered, while Japan Airlines owns seven. Ethiopian Airlines Saturday made the first commercial flight with a Dreamliner since January. JAL will begin test flying its Dreamliners in May and aims to resume normal operations in June, the airline said.
ANA said it intended to set up a dedicated Web site to address passenger concerns about the safety of the 787.
“It’s going to be difficult to get passengers to fly,” Ryota Himeno, an analyst at Barclays Securities in Japan, told Bloomberg. “ANA needs to invest a lot of time in flying the planes before customers come back.”
Japanese transportation authorities are aware of the challenge. “We will ask Japanese airlines to ensure the safety of passengers and provide them with information,” Mr. Ota, the transport minister, said last week.
Boeing rival Airbus has decided to abandon the battery in question, Bloomberg reported. It will not use lithium-ion batteries for its A350, the direct rival to the 787, after Boeing encountered problems. Airbus plans the first A350 deliveries next year, Bloomberg said.
Despite the problems, Boeing profits rose in the first quarter, according to reports.
“Our first priority in the days ahead is to fully restore our customers’ 787 fleets to service and resume production deliveries,” Boeing chairman Jim McNerney said in a statement last week. McNerney said that the company “worked around the clock to resolve the 787 battery issue,” while increasing deliveries of the 737 and 777 planes.
http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/confidence-issues-linger-as-the-dreamliner-soars-again/
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