Japan tests battery on Dreamliner
April 10, 2013 by AFP
Filed under Aviation, News, North Asia
TOKYO, 10 April 2013: Japanese aviation authorities on Monday began two days of battery tests on a grounded 787 Dreamliner at an airport in western Japan, officials said.
Four officials from the Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB) started checking the battery system of the All Nippon Airways airplane that has been grounded at Takamatsu airport for nearly three months.
The aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing in January after instruments indicated there was smoke coming out of the battery. That incident was instrumental in the worldwide grounding of all Boeing Dreamliner jets.
Dreamliner hitch strikes cars
TOKYO, 29 March 2013: Shares in GS Yuasa, the Japanese battery supplier for Boeing’s troubled Dreamliner, plunged Thursday after its power packs overheated or caught fire in Mitsubishi’s electric and hybrid vehicles.
The stock dropped 11.11% to 392 yen by the close in Tokyo after the automaker said late Wednesday that lithium-ion batteries made by a joint venture including GS Yuasa had suffered malfunctions in at least two instances.
No one was injured in the incidents which involved Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV model, the world’s first mass-produced electric car, and its Outlander PHEV, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. Neither of the cars involved had yet been shipped to customers.
Dreamliner fix still in the air
WASHINGTON, 8 March 2013: The US transportation secretary still has a “lot of questions” about Boeing’s grounded 787 Dreamliner, indicating the aviation giant faces a tough battle to get the planes back in the air soon.
“I have made it very clear that I want a thorough review” of the Boeing plan to fix the plane’s battery system in order to resume commercial flights, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the Wall Street Journal Wednesday.
“I am going to ask a lot of questions” before a final decision is made, said LaHood, who oversees the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and must sign off on any decision.
Dreamliner delays at ANA
TOKYO, 19 December 2011: Boeing’s much-vaunted 787 Dreamliner was mired in yet more delay late last week, launch customer All Nippon Airways (ANA) said in Japan.
The airline has so far received just two of the mid-sized, lightweight aircraft since September, three years after the first plane was originally scheduled for delivery.
ANA had hoped it would get a third plane in December to use on one of its Tokyo to Beijing routes, but has been forced to reschedule after Boeing said the plane would not arrive on time due to production delays. Read more
ANA’s dreamliner heads for Tokyo
NEW YORK, 26 September 2011 – Japan’s All Nippon Airways on Sunday signed a delivery contract for receipt of Boeing’s first 787 Dreamliner, more than three years later than initially planned.
A ceremony marking completion of the deal was scheduled for Monday in Everett, Washington, where Boeing has its assembly facility. That comes ahead of the aircraft’s flight to Tokyo Tuesday, according to aviation giant Boeing’s statement.
ANA is the launch airline for the troubled 787 program and has 55 of the aircraft on order. Read more
