Ethiopian Airlines decided to ground all Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes for precaution after multiple incidents occurred with Japan Airlines and a directive issued by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on the Dreamliner airplane battery system.
According to a press release sent to Ethiopiaforums the Airliner decided to take this measure to in line with its commitment of putting its passengers safety above all.
Please read the full press release from Ethiopian Airlines below
Ethiopian third Boeing -777 200LR
Ethiopian Temporarily Pulls 787 Fleet out of Service for Precautionary Inspection as per US FAA Directive
Addis Ababa, Ethiopian – January 17, 2013
Following the directive of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Ethiopian has
decided to temporarily pull its B787 Dreamliners out of service for precautionary
inspection on Thursday, January 17, 2013.
The US FAA issued a directive on January 16, 2013 that mandates operators to perform
special inspection requirements on the Dreamliner airplane battery system in
accordance with a method approved by it. This directive was issued following recent
incidents that occurred on Dreamliner airplanes operated by two other airlines.
Ethiopian Dreamliners have not encountered the type of problems such as those
experienced by the other operators. However, as an extra precautionary safety measure
and in line with its commitment of putting safety above all else, Ethiopian has decided
to pull out its four Dreamliners from operation and perform the special inspection
requirements mandated by the US FAA.
The airline has been operating the Dreamliner since mid-August last year. Ethiopian
Dreamliners have been performing well in the five months service logging record length
of non-stop flights and record high daily aircraft utilization in the industry. Since it first
received the Dreamliner, Ethiopian has logged 5,560 flight hours with average daily
aircraft utilization of 14 hours.
Ethiopian is working closely with Boeing to comply with the US FAA approved special
inspection procedure on the battery system and perform the maintenance as per the
directive. The airline aims to return the Dreamliners to service as soon as possible, after
full compliance with the new procedure.
For more information about this press release, please contact:
Manager PR & Publications
Ethiopian Airlines
Tel: (251-1) 517-84-07
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