Japanese airlines with Boeing 797 have seen their fleet grounded following a string of incidents. The government is now ready to help them financially with incentives.
TOKYO- The Japanese Transport Ministry revealed at the end of February to be ready to provide some support to Japanesa air carriers forced to keep their Boeing 787 jets grounded. This is amidst reports that most airlines that have the Boeing 787 Dreamliners in their fleet will be forced to keep them grounded through April and May as it appears the troubled airplanes will not have their long-running battery issues resolved in any close future.
These measures include exempting the airlines from paying parking fees for 787s at Japanese airports, the ministry said. The ministry will also be suspending an international rule under which an airline loses slots allocated to it if it fails to use at least 80 percent of the slots in the preceding year. In addition to this, the ministry eased a requirement for the pilot’s ability to operate the aircraft safely. The current requirement was that an onboard ministry inspector should confirm the pilot’s operational capability once a year. Under the eased regulations, flight simulator training and other alternative measures will be allowed to help pilots maintain flight skills for the 787.
The ministry added that a Boeing Company official will be coming over to brief the transport ministry on measures to prevent the recurrence of overheating by 787 batteries. The manufacturer has briefed the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on these safety measures last week. Aviation authorities all over the world have ordered airlines to ground all 787s after a Dreamliner operated by Japan’s All Nippon Airways made an emergency landing Jan. 16 at an airport in western Japan due to smoke in the cockpit.
All Nippon Airways was the launch customer of the Boeing 787 and one of the largest customers for the new aircraft with 55 Dreamliners due to be put into service until 2017. Last week, All Nippon Airways declared that it was not considering any change to its orders of Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner Jets, even though the aircraft has been grounded for now over a month.
ANA CEO Shinichiro Ito said he met Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Ray Conner on Wednesday and believed Boeing was making significant progress in resolving the problems.
(Sources: Kyodo News and Reuters)
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
