Aircraft Industry: Aeroflot, Transaero Undeterred by Dreamliner Woes

The global grounding of Boeing's flagship 787 Dreamliner has not deterred Russian airlines from buying the aircraft, the country's two largest airlines said.

Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Europe on Thursday followed the United States, India, Chile and Japan in ordering all 787 Dreamliners to be grounded until an investigation into a technical fault that forced one of the aircraft to make an emergency landing in Japan earlier this week.

Japan's ANA, which has 17 Dreamliners, and Japan Airlines, which has seven, voluntarily halted flights of the aircraft Wednesday after the emergency landing. Japanese national aviation authorities have now made the grounding an official directive.

Japan Airlines, which introduced the Dreamliner onto its Domodedovo-Tokyo route in May last year, said the grounding would not affect its thrice-weekly Russia flights.

"There are no changes or cancellations. We have already drafted other aircraft to fulfill flights on the route. Friday's flight will be carried out by a Boeing 777-200," said a company spokeswoman at the Moscow office of JAL.

Investigators said Thursday that it appeared a lithium-ion battery beneath the cockpit had overheated and leaked corrosive liquid, causing the burning smell in the cockpit that forced the emergency landing in Japan.

The Dreamliner is the first commercial jet to use the light-weight but powerful lithium-ion batteries.

Some parts of the Boeing Dreamliner are produced in Russia, but the company declined to comment when asked whether the battery in question was a Russian-produced component or whether any Russian-produced components were involved in the current safety concerns.

While Japan Airlines' flights between Domodedovo and Tokyo remain the only regular use of the Dreamliner in Russia to date, two Russian airlines, Aeroflot and Transaero, have placed orders for the aircraft.

Aeroflot did not respond to repeated requests to comment Thursday, but a spokesman told Izvestia that the company had no plans to cancel its order.

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