Two Japanese Airlines Ground Boeing 787s After New Problems

Major global news services are reporting that two Japanese airlines have grounded all of their Boeing 787 jets. All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines made the announcements following an emergency landing Wednesday morning in Japan. An All Nippon 787 had been flying from Ube in western Japan to Tokyo when it made an emergency landing in Takamatsu. Reuters reports firefighters at the Takamatsu airport saw that emergency chutes had been deployed on the jet.

Japanese television network NHK reports that smoke was detected in the plane just after takeoff. The Associated Press reports that a cockpit message indicated battery problems.

The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered a review of the design, manufacturing and assembly of the 787. The review is looking into what caused a fire, a fuel leak and other worrisome incidents with Boeing's newest and most technologically advanced airliner, though the FAA has reassured the public it is safe to fly.

Japanese airlines have been the first to roll out the 787. Boeing has said that various technical problems are to be expected in the early days of any aircraft model.

A fire ignited Jan. 7 in the battery pack of an auxiliary power unit of a Japan Airlines 787, empty of passengers, as the plane sat on the tarmac at Boston's Logan International Airport. It took firefighters 40 minutes to put out the fire. Later last week, a fuel leak delayed a flight from Boston to Tokyo of another Japan Airlines 787.

ANA canceled a domestic flight to Tokyo Jan. 9 after a computer wrongly indicated a problem with the 787's brakes. Two days later, the airline reported two new cases of 787 problems: a minor fuel leak and a cracked windscreen in the cockpit.

Boeing Co. spokeswoman Lori Gunter told KUOW that the company “will be working with our customer and the appropriate regulatory agencies.”