Engine trouble grounded a Dreamliner in Japan, its operator said, marking the third straight day of problems for Boeing’s next generation plane after months of difficulties.
While none of the recent issues was thought to be serious, they spell more misery for Boeing, whose flagship plane has been beset with delays and failures, most gravely a battery problem that kept the global fleet out of the sky.
In the latest incident yesterday, one engine on a 787 would not start after 141 passengers had boarded the All Nippon Airways (ANA) plane in Yamaguchi prefecture in western Japan, bound for Tokyo.
A company spokeswoman said the pilot had called off the flight after being warned of the problem by cockpit instruments, adding the cause of the malfunction was being investigated.
The glitch came a day after a Singapore-bound Dreamliner, operated by ANA’s rival Japan Airlines (JAL), had to turn back mid-flight because of a problem with the anti-icing system.
On Monday, ANA had to cancel a Tokyo-bound flight while the plane was at an airport in Fukuoka, western Japan, after instruments showed the left engine was not functioning properly.
The incidents come only weeks after JAL and ANA, the single biggest operator of 787s, put their full fleets of Dreamliners back into service following a four-month suspension over battery problems.
A global grounding order was issued in January after lithium-ion batteries overheated on two different planes, with one of them catching fire while the aircraft was parked.
Boeing admitted in April that despite months of testing it did not know the root cause of the problems, but rolled out modifications it said would ensure the issue did not recur.
Since then, Dreamliners have experienced a series of minor glitches, including a fault with an air pressure sensor.