The burnt auxiliary power unit battery is seen in an All Nippon Airways’ Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane which made an emergency landing last week, in this Jan. 17, 2013 photo provided by the Japan Transport Safety Board on Jan. 23.HANDOUT/Reuters
Japanese regulators have joined their U.S. counterparts in all but ruling out overcharged batteries as the cause of recent fires on the Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner, which has now been grounded for a week worldwide.
Meanwhile, as deliveries of the cutting-edge passenger jet back up with no end in sight, a key Chinese customer lamented the delays and said its growth plans were being hampered by its inability to get the planes on time.
Solving the battery issue has become the primary focus of the investigation, but with excess voltage more or less off the table, investigators are still hunting for a possible cause.
Regulators grounded the Dreamliner on Jan. 16 after a series of safety incidents, including battery fires on planes in the United States and Japan. The Japanese incident forced a plane to make an emergency landing.
Last weekend the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said the fire on a Japan Airlines Co. Ltd. 787 in Boston was not due to excess voltage, and on Wednesday, Japanese officials all but ruled it out for the incident on an All Nippon Airways Co. Ltd. plane there.
"On the surface, it appears there was no overcharging," said Norihiro Goto, chairman of the Japan Transport Safety Board, at a media briefing.
"The fact that such electrical system-related incidents would occur consecutively, purely from my perspective, could not have been expected. We are finding it difficult trying to figure out what kind of investigative stance we should take."
The investigation has also renewed scrutiny on the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's 2007 decision to let Boeing use a highly flammable battery technology on the 787. A key U.S. Senate committee will hold a hearing in coming weeks to examine U.S. aviation safety oversight and the FAA's decision, a congressional aide said on Tuesday.
While the NTSB and JTSB hunt for a solution to the battery question, there is also an open issue around fuel leaks on the Dreamliner. In early December, U.S. officials warned of a manufacturing fault with fuel lines, and earlier this month a JAL plane in Boston leaked before takeoff.
Industrial manufacturer Eaton Corp. said Wednesday it was co-operating with investigators looking at the fuel leaks.
"Without speaking about either the incident or investigation, I can tell you that we do supply pumps and valves to the program," a spokeswoman said.
The 787 program was already years behind schedule before last week's grounding, which means Boeing cannot deliver newly manufactured planes to customers. For at least one Chinese customer, that has meant delays in launching new routes.
"Frankly, it's a little disappointing the aircraft has been delayed so many times," said Chen Feng, chairman of Hainan Airlines Co. Ltd. parent HNA Group, in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos. "We still think it's a good aircraft, but this has had some effect on our planning."
Hainan has 10 of the planes on order.
The grounding of the Dreamliner, an advanced carbon-composite plane with a list price of $207-million (U.S.), has already forced Japan's ANA to cancel 151 domestic and 26 international flights scheduled for Jan. 23-28, affecting more than 21,000 passengers, the airline said on Monday.
ANA, which flies the most Dreamliners of any airline, is due to announce further flight cancellation plans on Thursday.
Boeing has already delivered 50 of the 787s to date. Around half of those have been in operation in Japan, but airlines in India, South America, Poland, Qatar and Ethiopia, as well as United Airlines in the United States, are also flying the plane.
Boeing's main competitor, EADS, said on Wednesday it did not expect the problems with the 787 to affect the certification of its own rival plane, the Airbus A350.
"We will do what is needed to avoid the same problems," EADS strategy chief Marwan Lahoud told France's Radio Classic.
Airbus has said it hopes to achieve the maiden flight of the carbon-composite A350 by the middle of this year.