New Dreamliner breakdown for Norwegian

A Boeing 787 Dreamliner operated by budget airline Norwegian Air Shuttle has been grounded in Florida since Saturday evening, the airline said on Monday.

"Unfortunately, we have experienced technical issues on our flight which was due to go from Fort Lauderdale to Stockholm Arlanda on Saturday at 9:30 pm," Norwegian spokesman Daniel Kirchhoff said.

The company said they were waiting for a part from Boeing which was due to arrive Monday.

It has been less than a month since the airline opened the Fort Lauderdale routes from Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen.

According to Norwegian, the 238 affected passengers would take a flight scheduled for Monday at 3:30 pm local time (2030 GMT).

"We are sorry about the delay and are doing everything we can to get the passengers home before Christmas," Kirchhoff said.

Since the Norwegian launched its long-haul business last summer, it has suffered delays and cancellations due to serious technical problems with its Dreamliners, from oxygen supply in cockpits to faulty hydraulic pumps and braking systems.

The incidents have affected the company's financial results, its share price and its image, but also the prestige of Boeing, which had invested heavily in resources and effort to bolster the new aircraft's market share.

Despite the problems, in a vote of confidence Norwegian announced on Wednesday that it had ordered two more Dreamliners.

This acquisition will bring Norwegian's Dreamliner fleet to 10 owned or leased aircraft.

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Boeing informs clients of 787 delivery delay

Boeing said on Friday that it had informed buyers of its troubled 787 Dreamliner that deliveries would be delayed as US air safety experts investigate two burned battery incidents on the aircraft.

"We have informed our customers expecting 787 deliveries in the near term that those aircraft either have been or are at risk of being delayed," a company spokesman said in an email to AFP.

Earlier Friday Norwegian Air Shuttle, one of the main 787 customers in Europe, pressed Boeing on delivery of the 787, the company's newest aircraft.

"As one of Boeing's biggest customers in Europe, we expect that the aircraft manufacturer does everything in its power to get the aircraft ready for delivery as soon as possible," the airline's chief executive Bjoern Kjos said in a statement.

On January 16, the 50 Dreamliners in service around the world were grounded after a battery fire on a parked Japan Airlines (JAL) plane and battery smoke on an All Nippon Airways flight forced an emergency landing.

Two days later, Boeing suspended deliveries of the aircraft until further notice, but continued production.

The US National Transportation Safety Board, the US Federal Aviation Authority, and Japanese and French authorities are investigating the cause of the battery incidents.

The NTSB on Thursday suggested it could be weeks before it reaches a conclusion on what caused the battery fire aboard a JAL 787 at Boston's Logan International Airport on January 7.

That could be key to the FAA allowing 787s to resume flying.

"We are staying in close communication with our customers as we work towards an approved means of compliance with the FAA Airworthiness Directive and develop a plan for resumption of 787 deliveries," the Boeing spokesman said.

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Just a few days after the grounding of the Dreamliner, Boeing assured its buyers that delay is unlikely even though they have halted deliveries. Well it seems that Boeing underestimated the issue and will have to eat their words and pay through their pockets now.

 

Boeing confident it will soon fix 787 Dreamliner problems

Boeing has told a Scandinavian airline that it is confident that it will soon fix the battery problems that have grounded its 787 Dreamliner aircraft, the chief executive of Norwegian Air Shuttle said on Tuesday.

Norwegian Air Shuttle is among a number of carriers to have ordered the hi-tech jet and is expecting delivery in April.

Delivery of all 850 planes ordered have been halted and the 50 jets in service have been grounded while authorities review the 787's design following issues with the plane's lithium-ion batteries.

Boeing has told Norwegian Air Shuttle, a budget carrier, to expect its first 787 Dreamliner in April in line with the latest delivery schedule, chief executive Bjorn Kjos told Reuters. "They will definitely fix the battery problems long before then," he said. "They say it is going to be fixed soon; they have a plan. They say it will be delivered according to the schedule," he told reporters at the Airline Economics conference in Dublin.

Boeing declined to comment on Kjos's comments but in a statement, the company said: "Boeing will not deliver 787s until the FAA approves a means of compliance with their recent airworthiness directive concerning batteries and the approved approach has been implemented.

"Boeing continues to assist government agencies in the US and Japan responsible for investigating two recent 787 incidents. The company has formed teams consisting of hundreds of engineering and technical experts who are working around the clock with the sole focus of resolving the issue and returning the 787 fleet to flight status. We are working this issue tirelessly in cooperation with our customers and the appropriate regulatory and investigative authorities."

Kjos's confidence is in contrast to many airline experts who see the Dreamliner crisis deepening. Mary Schiavo, former inspector general of the Department of Transport, told The Guardian On Monday that a quick fix looked increasingly unlikely.

Schiavo, who now leads the aviation team at attorney Motley Rice, said it could be months before the issues besetting the Dreamliner are settled.

US and Japanese officials are now investigating what went wrong with two lithium-ion batteries made by Japan's GS Yuasa. On Tuesday US investigators began talking to Securaplane Technologies, the Arizona company that made the batteries' chargers.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is co-ordinating the US inquiry, is expected to release an updated report into the 787 battery fire as early as this week.

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April? An assurance or a guarantee by Boeing? There is still some way to go in the investigations and it seems that they're still clueless about the problem. Even if the problem has been resolved, more testing will be needed to prove that it will not happen again.

It isn't as simple as it seems. Do not compromise on safety to keep to your promises.