All Nippon Airways Co.said Thursday it will repair some of its Boeing 787 fleet due to engine defects, a move that would affect the major Japanese carrier's flight services and possibly cause hundreds of flights to be canceled.
ANA has been investigating a slew of cases in which its twin-engine Boeing 787s had to turn back after detection of abnormalities in their engines.The carrier's 50 Boeing 787s are all equipped with engines from Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC.
A probe by ANA and the British aviation engine maker found that some parts in the engine interior were damaged.The engines for all 50 planes will be replaced.
According to ANA, Rolls-Royce has called on all airlines using the same type of engines to make repairs.
ANA said nine domestic flights linking Tokyo's Haneda airport to Osaka, Hiroshima and Fukuoka airports for Friday will be canceled. The airline said more than 300 flights are expected to be canceled by the end of September, and further flights are likely to be affected beyond October.
The company said engine problems occurred in a flight connecting Japan to Malaysia in February and another flight to Vietnam in March, both due to ruptured compressor blades as a result of corrosion.
ANA began replacing the engines for aircraft on international flights and later decided to expand the repairs to domestic flights after similar trouble occurred on a flight from Haneda to Miyazaki in southwestern Japan on Aug.20.
An engine problem also occurred Thursday morning when an ANA flight to Fukuoka was forced to return to Haneda after an indicator in a Boeing 787's cockpit showed abnormalities in its left engine.
The incident prompted the transportation ministry to ask the carrier to report on whether the case was associated with the previous trouble. Japan Airlines Co. the other major Japanese airline, also has a fleet of Boeing 787s but they are not affected as their engines are made by General Electric. It is not the first time Boeing 787s have faced a mechanical problem.
In January 2013, smoke and fire were found coming out of the batteries on the aircraft in the ANA and JAL fleets, prompting U..and Japanese aviation authorities to temporarily ground the models. The two carriers were only able to resume regular flight services using the aircraft in June after Boeing made changes to fix the problem
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