- Title: JAPAN: All Nippon Airways grounds their 787 aircrafts after an emergency landing
- Date: 16th January 2013
- Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (JANUARY 16, 2013) (REUTERS) *CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY** ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS (ANA) NEWS CONFERENCE STARTING (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS, SENIOR EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, OSAMU SHINOBE SAYING AND BOWING: "We are extremely sorry for causing grief to the passengers, their families and those involved. We are sorry." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS, SENIOR EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, OSAMU SHINOBE SAYING: "For the time being, we have decided to ground all of our 787 aircraft as of today." JOURNALISTS IN NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS, SENIOR EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, OSAMU SHINOBE SAYING: "If we know the cause, can confirm the safety and explain it properly to our customers, we will restart operations with the planes." MORE OF SHINOBE AND ANA OFFICIALS BOWING ANA OFFICIALS WALKING OUT
- Embargoed: 31st January 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Japan
- Country: Japan
- Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Transport
- Reuters ID: LVAMJBD9NU5ENXOD6AQT5B7QDOL
- Story Text: Japan's two leading airlines grounded their fleets of Boeing 787s on Wednesday (January 16) after one of the Dreamliner passenger jets made an emergency landing, heightening safety concerns over a plane many see as the future of commercial aviation.
"We are extremely sorry for causing grief to the passengers, their families and those involved. We are sorry," said ANA senior executive vice president Osamu Shinobe, bowing deeply as he apologised.
Wednesday's incident follows a series of mishaps for the new Dreamliner. The sophisticated plane, the world's first mainly carbon-composite airliner, has suffered fuel leaks, a battery fire, wiring problem, brake computer glitch and cracked cockpit window in recent days.
ANA flight 692 left Yamaguchi Airport in western Japan shortly after 8 a.m. local time (2300 GMT January 15) bound for Haneda Airport near Tokyo, a 65-minute flight.
About 18 minutes into the flight, at 30,000 feet, the plane began a descent.
It made an emergency landing at Takamatsu airport at 0847 JST (2347GMT), ANA said.
It descended to 20,000 feet in about four minutes and made an emergency landing 16 minutes later, according to flight-tracking website Flightaware.com.
The carrier said instruments on the flight indicated a battery error, triggering emergency warnings to the pilots. It said the battery in the forward cargo hold was the same type as one involved in a fire on another Dreamliner at a U.S. airport last week.
All Nippon Airways said it was grounding all 17 of its 787s and Japan Airlines said it suspended all 787 flights scheduled for Wednesday.
"For the time being, we have decided to ground all of our 787 aircraft as of today," Shinobe said. .
ANA said its planes could be back in the air as soon as Thursday once checks were completed.
JAL and ANA operate around half of the 50 Dreamliners delivered by Boeing to date. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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