Boeing Co. (BA) suffered another image setback for its 787 plane after a fuel leak on a Japan Airlines Co.-operated Dreamliner at Boston delayed a flight to Tokyo, a day after a fire broke out on another plane at the same airport.
An open fuel valve caused kerosene to leak from the plane, delaying take-off until mechanics could close it, Seiji Takaramoto, a spokesman at Japan Airlines said by telephone today. About 40 gallons of fuel spilled on the ground at Logan International Airport yesterday, said Matthew Brelis, a spokesman for airport operator Massport.
The incidents are the latest to plague the world’s first jet with a fuselage made chiefly of composite materials after it entered commercial service in late 2011, more than three years behind schedule. Boeing, which said today it has “complete confidence” in the new model, is set to double production of the 787 this year to help fill remaining orders for about 800.
“Unfortunately the aircraft is known now for its problems, not for the performance it delivers and the enhanced safety features,” said Michel Merluzeau, an analyst with G2 Solutions in Kirkland, Washington.
Japan Airlines, with a fleet of seven 787 Dreamliners, will check why the fuel valve wasn’t closed after the plane arrives back in Tokyo later today, Takaramoto said. The carrier completed checks on batteries after the 787 fire in Boston and no problems were found on the other six aircraft, he said.
Boeing fell 2 percent to $74.13 in New York trading yesterday, extending on its 1.6 percent fall on Jan. 7. It’s the biggest two-day decline for the stock in more than seven months. More than 20 million shares changed hands, exceeding four times the average daily volume in the 12 months.
GS Yuasa Corp. (6674) made the lithium ion battery on the 787 and is cooperating with the investigation, Tsutomu Nishijima, a spokesman for the Kyoto-based company, said yesterday. GS Yuasa isn’t aware of the reason for the fire, he said. The battery maker fell 0.3 percent to 334 yen at close of trading today.
“The safety of flight of the aircraft isn’t in question -- I can guarantee this is a much safer airplane than the 767 it’s replacing -- but it shapes the perception of the community and operators and passengers as to what it’s known for right now,” said Merluzeau.
“There’s a fine line between a new airplane with glitches and a new airplane with problems, and I’m worried the 787 is crossing the line to problems,” Henry Harteveldt, an aviation analyst at Hudson Crossing in San Francisco, said in a telephone interview.
United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL) inspected all six of its 787s following Jan. 7’s Japan Airlines fire, Mary Ryan, a spokeswoman said yesterday. She declined to reveal the results and said Chicago-based United continues to work with Boeing on the 787’s reliability.
United canceled both the inbound and outbound Los Angeles- Tokyo flights on Jan. 7 that were supposed to have been flown with a 787 and used a different aircraft, said Ryan, who declined to give a reason for the cancellations. Those flights were due to be flown with a Dreamliner yesterday, she said.
Fuel leaks in November were traced to manufacturing errors, spurring Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to direct inspections and repairs, and Japan Airlines said Dec. 5 it had repaired its 787s.
The NTSB isn’t investigating the leak, which is being reviewed by the FAA. Boeing is aware of the leak and is “working with our customer,” Julie O’Donnell, a company spokeswoman, said yesterday.
Air India Ltd.’s fleet of 787s is “operating smoothly,” the carrier’s spokesman G. Prasada Rao said in New Delhi today. The airline received its sixth Dreamliner on Jan. 7. Boeing has agreed to modify the electrical system on one of the planes by March after providing an “interim solution’ to a fault detected in September, he said.
This is a crucial year for the 787 as Chicago-based Boeing increases deliveries and production, trying to get out from under the weight of seven delays to the plane’s introduction that spanned three and a half years.
Yesterday’s Boston-to-Tokyo Japan Airlines flight, which had been due to depart at noon, left at 3:47 p.m. local time with 170 passengers and 11 crew members, Carol Anderson, an airline spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
‘‘The 787 is a high-profile plane, so it’s getting more media play than if the same thing was happening on a 737,” Michael Derchin, an analyst at CRT Capital Group in Stamford, Connecticut, said in a telephone interview. “Mechanical issues happen all the time, but you don’t hear about them.”
All Nippon Airways Co. (9202), the initial operator of the 787, found no problems with the batteries on its 787s after checking them yesterday following a request from Japan’s transport ministry, Megumi Tezuka, a spokeswoman at the airline said by telephone today.
An in-flight fire in an avionics bay in 2010 forced the 787 test fleet to be parked for six weeks and added six months to the delay of the plane’s entry into service while engineers rewrote electricity-distribution software. That fire was traced to debris in an electrical panel, which is in the same bay under the cabin as the batteries in question.
Last month, electrical faults forced United and Qatar Airways Ltd. to ground 787s. The plane is the first commercial airliner made chiefly of composite materials, instead of aluminum, and with an all-electric power system that uses five times as much electricity as other, similar jets.
http://www.bloomberg.com
An open fuel valve caused kerosene to leak from the plane, delaying take-off until mechanics could close it, Seiji Takaramoto, a spokesman at Japan Airlines said by telephone today. About 40 gallons of fuel spilled on the ground at Logan International Airport yesterday, said Matthew Brelis, a spokesman for airport operator Massport.
The incidents are the latest to plague the world’s first jet with a fuselage made chiefly of composite materials after it entered commercial service in late 2011, more than three years behind schedule. Boeing, which said today it has “complete confidence” in the new model, is set to double production of the 787 this year to help fill remaining orders for about 800.
“Unfortunately the aircraft is known now for its problems, not for the performance it delivers and the enhanced safety features,” said Michel Merluzeau, an analyst with G2 Solutions in Kirkland, Washington.
Japan Airlines, with a fleet of seven 787 Dreamliners, will check why the fuel valve wasn’t closed after the plane arrives back in Tokyo later today, Takaramoto said. The carrier completed checks on batteries after the 787 fire in Boston and no problems were found on the other six aircraft, he said.
Shares Drop
The carrier, which returned to the stock market last year after a trip through bankruptcy and a turnaround that included shedding more than a third of workers, fell 0.4 percent to 3,765 yen at close of Tokyo trading. That was the biggest decline since Dec. 28, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.Boeing fell 2 percent to $74.13 in New York trading yesterday, extending on its 1.6 percent fall on Jan. 7. It’s the biggest two-day decline for the stock in more than seven months. More than 20 million shares changed hands, exceeding four times the average daily volume in the 12 months.
GS Yuasa Corp. (6674) made the lithium ion battery on the 787 and is cooperating with the investigation, Tsutomu Nishijima, a spokesman for the Kyoto-based company, said yesterday. GS Yuasa isn’t aware of the reason for the fire, he said. The battery maker fell 0.3 percent to 334 yen at close of trading today.
“The safety of flight of the aircraft isn’t in question -- I can guarantee this is a much safer airplane than the 767 it’s replacing -- but it shapes the perception of the community and operators and passengers as to what it’s known for right now,” said Merluzeau.
United Inspections
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the Jan. 7 fire, said yesterday that the blaze caused “severe” damage near a battery rack in an electronics bay.“There’s a fine line between a new airplane with glitches and a new airplane with problems, and I’m worried the 787 is crossing the line to problems,” Henry Harteveldt, an aviation analyst at Hudson Crossing in San Francisco, said in a telephone interview.
United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL) inspected all six of its 787s following Jan. 7’s Japan Airlines fire, Mary Ryan, a spokeswoman said yesterday. She declined to reveal the results and said Chicago-based United continues to work with Boeing on the 787’s reliability.
United canceled both the inbound and outbound Los Angeles- Tokyo flights on Jan. 7 that were supposed to have been flown with a 787 and used a different aircraft, said Ryan, who declined to give a reason for the cancellations. Those flights were due to be flown with a Dreamliner yesterday, she said.
No Linkage
“Nothing that we’ve seen in this case indicates a relationship to any previous 787 power system events, which involved power panel faults elsewhere in the aft electrical equipment bay,” Lori Gunter, a Boeing spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.Fuel leaks in November were traced to manufacturing errors, spurring Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to direct inspections and repairs, and Japan Airlines said Dec. 5 it had repaired its 787s.
The NTSB isn’t investigating the leak, which is being reviewed by the FAA. Boeing is aware of the leak and is “working with our customer,” Julie O’Donnell, a company spokeswoman, said yesterday.
Air India Ltd.’s fleet of 787s is “operating smoothly,” the carrier’s spokesman G. Prasada Rao said in New Delhi today. The airline received its sixth Dreamliner on Jan. 7. Boeing has agreed to modify the electrical system on one of the planes by March after providing an “interim solution’ to a fault detected in September, he said.
‘Complete Confidence’
‘‘We have complete confidence in the 787 and vow to take care of any issues our customers are experiencing,’’ Randy Tinseth, Boeing’s marketing chief, said in a blogpost today, adding that the model has flown more than 50,000 hours.This is a crucial year for the 787 as Chicago-based Boeing increases deliveries and production, trying to get out from under the weight of seven delays to the plane’s introduction that spanned three and a half years.
Yesterday’s Boston-to-Tokyo Japan Airlines flight, which had been due to depart at noon, left at 3:47 p.m. local time with 170 passengers and 11 crew members, Carol Anderson, an airline spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
‘‘The 787 is a high-profile plane, so it’s getting more media play than if the same thing was happening on a 737,” Michael Derchin, an analyst at CRT Capital Group in Stamford, Connecticut, said in a telephone interview. “Mechanical issues happen all the time, but you don’t hear about them.”
Smoke Detected
In Jan. 7’s incident, a mechanic noticed smoke as he walked through the jet after passengers had disembarked from their flight from Tokyo. The smoke was traced to a fire from the battery used for the auxiliary power unit, Japan Airlines said in a statement.All Nippon Airways Co. (9202), the initial operator of the 787, found no problems with the batteries on its 787s after checking them yesterday following a request from Japan’s transport ministry, Megumi Tezuka, a spokeswoman at the airline said by telephone today.
An in-flight fire in an avionics bay in 2010 forced the 787 test fleet to be parked for six weeks and added six months to the delay of the plane’s entry into service while engineers rewrote electricity-distribution software. That fire was traced to debris in an electrical panel, which is in the same bay under the cabin as the batteries in question.
Last month, electrical faults forced United and Qatar Airways Ltd. to ground 787s. The plane is the first commercial airliner made chiefly of composite materials, instead of aluminum, and with an all-electric power system that uses five times as much electricity as other, similar jets.
http://www.bloomberg.com
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