Much of the world’s fleet of 787 Dreamliner’s have been grounded and Boeing has been stopped from making deliveries of new aircraft following a fire on a Japan Airways flight and an emergency landing by All Nippon Airways. The incidents are thought to stem from problems with the lithium-ion batteries used in the aircraft.
Japan’s Ministry of Transport is conducting a second probe at battery supplier GS Yuasa headquarters in Kyoto and has also sent a team to a UK supplier according to reports on Bloomberg.
Tsutomu Nishijima, a spokesman for GS Yuasa, told Bloomberg that the company was cooperating fully with the investigation.
In another part of the investigation, the US National Transportation Safety Board is due to visit a supplier based in the US state of Arizona to look the battery charger which is thought to have caught fire by the Japan Airways aircraft in Boston.
Edward Stacey, a London-based analyst at Espirito Santo Investment Bank told the news-wire that he couldn’t think of an example when an equipment supplier got sued in a case such as this because it is the job of regulators, airlines and aircraft makers to ensure safety.