Video- President and CEO of BCA and Boeing Statement on 787

Neelam Mathews

Jan 12, 2012

Even as JAL reported a fire in the auxiliary lithium battery pack of the 787 and ANA suffered from brake problems, a senior official of the DGCA told Aerospace Diary that "action would be taken once the US NTSB report is released on the 787. He did add: "Air India's six 787s have had no issues and are working well."

While fires in batteries are rare, they have been linked to aviation accidents, electric vehicle blazes and exploding smartphones. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has logged 33 instances in which batteries have caught fire on commercial airplanes since 2009. Of those cases, 26 — or 79 percent — involved lithium-ion batteries, according to the agency, writes Japan Times.

"Damage from Monday's fire was confined to within about 50 cm of the battery pack, the NTSB reported. 

Meanwhile- this is the statement issued by Boeing:

Boeing  is confident in the design and performance of the 787. It is a safe and efficient airplane that brings tremendous value to our customers and an improved flying experience to their passengers.

The airplane has logged 50,000 hours of flight and there are more than 150 flights occurring daily. Its in-service performance is on par with the industry’s best-ever introduction into service – the Boeing 777. Like the 777, at 15 months of service, we are seeing the 787’s fleet wide dispatch reliability well above 90 percent.

More than a year ago, the 787 completed the most robust and rigorous certification process in the history of the FAA. We remain fully confident in the airplane’s design and production system.

Regular reviews of program and technical progress are an important part of the validation and oversight process that has created today’s safe and efficient air transportation system. While the 787’s reliability is on par with the best in class, we have experienced in-service issues in recent months and we are never satisfied while there is room for improvement. For that reason, today we jointly announced with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) the start of a review of the 787’s recent issues and critical systems.

We welcome the opportunity to conduct this joint review. Our standard practice calls on us to apply rigorous and ongoing validation of our tools, processes and systems so that we can always be ensured that our products bring the highest levels of safety and reliability to our customers.

Just as we are confident in the airplane, we are equally confident in the regulatory process that has been applied to the 787 since its design inception. With this airplane, the FAA conducted its most robust certification process ever. We expect that this review will complement that effort.