Another Boeing 787 Dreamliner Grounded After Battery Problem

Japan Airlines has temporarily grounded one of its Boeing 787 Dreamliners after smoke was detected outside the plane indicating possible problems with the battery.

The airline said that engineers noticed “white smoke” during routine maintenance, and then warning lights in the cockpit flashed indicating a battery fault.

There were no passengers on board.

Boeing confirmed the issue stating: “We are aware of the 787 issue that occurred Tuesday afternoon at Narita, which appears to have involved the venting of a single battery cell.”

The problem comes around a year after Boeing was forced to ground its entire 787 Dreamliner fleet following battery problems on two separate aircraft.

The aircraft was grounded for over three months as Boeing redesigned the entire battery system. Although the exact cause of the battery problems was not found, the 787 was back in operation after obtaining approval from US regulators.

“The improvements made to the 787 battery system last year appear to have worked as designed,” Boeing said in its statement.

Speaking to Gulf Business last year, Marty Bentrott, vice president of sales for Boeing Commercial, said that the beleaguered aircraft couldn’t afford to face more problems.

“We’ve solved that problem [battery], the aeroplane is back flying. We can’t afford any more problems otherwise the confidence factor drops back down, and we have to continue to improve the reliability so the airlines have those aeroplanes departing the gates on schedule and on time.”

Since its launch, the 787 Dreamliner has stocked up 1,030 orders so far, including 182 new orders in 2013.