State-run carrier Air India’s brand new fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners that has been on the ground since January after several of these aircraft world over reported battery fire may resume operations by April end.
According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation Arun Mishra, the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), the highest authority on civil aviation has approved Boeing’s plan to fix the battery-fire problem. A team of Boeing engineers is expected here by the month end which will rectify the battery snag.
“Air India can put these Dreamliner aircraft into service by the end of April after tests on the lithium ion battery packages are successfully carried out by Boeing,” he said.
The Boeing team will take about a week to address the battery problem and a new battery kit is likely to be installed in each of the six grounded Dreamlines in AI’s fleet.
Following the snag that was endemic in all the Dreamliners across the world, the US aircraft maker Boeing has developed new battery kits which will replace the old ones in which snag was detected.
“The new kits have been put to complete test by the FAA. It will take the FAA anywhere between 3-4 weeks to install, check and declare the aircraft airworthy. Since these are electrical equipment all necessary checks and double checks will be implemented before these aircraft fly again,” the source added.
Boeing has also informed the airlines in seven countries which have grounded all the 50 Boeing 787s since January about the FAAC approval.
The 50 Dreamliners which have been delivered so far to airlines in India, Chile, Ethiopia, Japan, Poland and Qatar and the US were grounded after two battery-fire incidents in January.
Financially beleaguered Air India was banking heavily on the fuel efficient Dreamlines and these state-of-the-art new generation aircraft were being operated on the Paris, Frankfurt and Dubai and certain domestic routes.
“The Dreamliner would surely change the landscape of how airline conduct their business in the long run, but one will have to wait till such time that these aircraft are declared airworthy,” an aviation analyst said.
http://newindianexpress.com/business/news/article1503431.ece
According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation Arun Mishra, the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), the highest authority on civil aviation has approved Boeing’s plan to fix the battery-fire problem. A team of Boeing engineers is expected here by the month end which will rectify the battery snag.
“Air India can put these Dreamliner aircraft into service by the end of April after tests on the lithium ion battery packages are successfully carried out by Boeing,” he said.
The Boeing team will take about a week to address the battery problem and a new battery kit is likely to be installed in each of the six grounded Dreamlines in AI’s fleet.
Following the snag that was endemic in all the Dreamliners across the world, the US aircraft maker Boeing has developed new battery kits which will replace the old ones in which snag was detected.
“The new kits have been put to complete test by the FAA. It will take the FAA anywhere between 3-4 weeks to install, check and declare the aircraft airworthy. Since these are electrical equipment all necessary checks and double checks will be implemented before these aircraft fly again,” the source added.
Boeing has also informed the airlines in seven countries which have grounded all the 50 Boeing 787s since January about the FAAC approval.
The 50 Dreamliners which have been delivered so far to airlines in India, Chile, Ethiopia, Japan, Poland and Qatar and the US were grounded after two battery-fire incidents in January.
Financially beleaguered Air India was banking heavily on the fuel efficient Dreamlines and these state-of-the-art new generation aircraft were being operated on the Paris, Frankfurt and Dubai and certain domestic routes.
“The Dreamliner would surely change the landscape of how airline conduct their business in the long run, but one will have to wait till such time that these aircraft are declared airworthy,” an aviation analyst said.
http://newindianexpress.com/business/news/article1503431.ece
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