Japanese-based airlines All Nippon Airways (ANA), said on February 25, 2013, that it has grounded its fleet of Dreamliners, at least till the end of May 2013. ANA said that it will be cancelling around 1,714 flights in the upcoming months of April 2013 as well. This is a period which includes the busy Golden Week Holidays in Japan.
The total number of flights which have been affected is now coming up to 3,600, since the Dreamliner was grounded in the month of January 2013. Out of the newly announced cancellation of flights, about 1,250 are domestic and 464 are international flights. These include those flights which are bound for Seoul, Seattle and Frankfurt.
A spokesperson from the company said, “Unfortunately, it includes Golden Week, but we have decided to inform our customers in advance as the prospect for their resumption is still unseen”. So far, ANA has been the biggest Dreamliner customer with 17 of the world’s 50 operational 787’s.
In recent times, the next generation aircraft has suffered several glitches, which has raised a global alert from the US Federal Aviation administration. The condition was termed as serious, especially after two incidents involving the battery packs. The announcement of ANA is a further setback for Boeing, which has high hopes of ruling the skies with its 787’s.
