No plans to ground AI's Dreamliner planes: Officials
New Delhi: There are no plans at present to ground Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes of Air India even though the aviation regulator DGCA proposes to carry out a safety review of the new aircraft, officials said on Wednesday.
"There are no plans to ground the Dreamliner right now," a senior Civil Aviation Ministry official said when asked about the technical glitches some of these planes have faced in the recent past.
The comment came hours after two Japanese airlines-- ANA and JAL--grounded all 24 of their Dreamliner planes following a series of technical problems.
"We are in consultation with Boeing and Air India. Boeing will be giving us an update on the electrical problems some of these planes have suffered," the official said.
However, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) would conduct a safety review of the aircraft currently with Air India, depending on the feedback from the manufacturer and the airline, he said. Air India has ordered 27 B-787s and six of them have been delivered so far.
Earlier, official sources had said Air India and the Civil Aviation Ministry would await the findings of the US Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) probe into the problems faced by Boeing 787s before taking any decision.
The American aircraft maker had last Friday jointly announced investigations with FAA after three of these aircraft owned by the Japanese carriers suffered glitches this month -- an electrical fire, fuel leakage and a broken cockpit window.
"There is nothing to be done by us at present. We have already carried out inspections and checks on our aircraft on our own, including the lithium ion batteries," a senior Air India official said, adding, "We are awaiting advice from the FAA and the Boeing."
Aerospace experts say these batteries are used on the F- 22 and F-35 fighter aircraft, the International Space Station, battery-powered cars like Tesla and Chevy Volt, apart from the high-tech Dreamliners.
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