Boeing 787 Grounding and Challenges
As we all know the Boeing 787 has been grounded in Japan and now everywhere. With the smell of fire in a recent ANA 787 and recent troubles with the batteries the an announcement was made to grounding the 787 worldwide on January 16, 2013. This in regards to safety and until inspections can be made to those airlines operating the Boeing 787.
Many challenges as this aircraft is built of lightweight material and using state of the art technology. Any aircraft that is new and different from existing technology is going to have challenges. History has shown with many aircraft over the years have had their ups and downs. From De Havilland Comet in the 50’s to the Concorde and Tupolev TU-144. Even McDonald Douglas over the years had some challenges. Even Airbus had some small problems when the first A380’s were in service.
No matter what safety is priority and this is just a precaution on behalf of the authorities and the manufacturer Boeing. We all know lithium batteries have their challenges too so as time moves forward we are sure things will be worked out. As far as the airlines it is without a doubt a logistical nightmare for the fleet as ANA operates 17 Boeing 787. Prior to this aircraft delivery the Boeing 767 was doing all those routes so unless the airline still has some of the older Boeing 767 they will be challenged logistically.
Japan Airlines operates 7 at this time and other airlines around the world with fewer numbers are Ethiopian Airlines, Air India, LAN Airlines, United Airlines, Qatar Airlines, and LOT Polish Airlines as of December 31, 2012.
Source Airline Adviser 01/17/13