Boeing’s Dreamliner nightmare goes on as all 787s stay grounded

Boeing’s Dreamliner crisis continued today as its entire fleet of 787 jets remained grounded while a team of United States aviation experts arrived in Japan to inspect a plane forced to make an emergency landing this week.

The forced landing of the All Nippon Airways flight in western Japan on Wednesday after instruments on board indicated a battery error led to regulators in the US and elsewhere grounding the 50 Dreamliners in service.

Representatives from the US National Transportation Safety Board as well as its Federal Aviation Administration arrived at Takamatsu airport in western Japan, where the jet remains parked, alongside engineers from Boeing to help Japanese authorities with their investigation of the aircraft. GS Yuasa Corp, the Japanese company that makes the Dreamliner’s lithium-ion batteries, has also sent three engineers to inspect the plane.

The Japan Transport Safety Board is expected to complete its initial checks of the 787 by around tomorrow. Analysts have estimated that keeping the 787s on the ground could cost ANA alone more than $1.1 million (£687,000) a day; other carriers who have done the same include Japan Airlines, Air India and United Airlines.