Nippon Airways' new and celebrated Boeing 787 Dreamliner made four trips in and out of Mineta San Jose International Airport since Friday before a Japan emergency landing sparked by battery problems caused enough concern for air authorities there to temporarily ground all flights on Wednesday.
The grounding was being done voluntarily by the airlines operating out of Japan, but that country's transport ministry says it's categorizing the problem as a "serious incident" that could have led to an accident, according to the Associated Press.
Mineta spokeswoman Rosemary Barnes said there have been no problems on any of the San Jose flights, and added that all but one of them have departed on time and usually arrived early.
Upon hearing about the cancellation of an expected All Nippon Airways arrival at 10:10 a.m. Wednesday, Barnes said "it just means that the aircraft will not arrive and those with incoming and outgoing flights will be inconvenienced."
"But as we all know, an airline's first priority is safety -- that's the focus," she said.
According to wire reports, ANA grounded the flights after one of its 17 Dreamliners made an emergency landing in western Japan after pilots were alerted to battery problems Wednesday morning, local time. Further details on the troubles were not available Tuesday evening, but a Japanese television station reported passengers used emergency slides to exit the aircraft after the
flight from Tokyo to Ube landed at the Takamatsu airport. ANA officials said 129 passengers and eight crew members were evacuated.An Osaka airport authority spokesman told Reuters that smoke appeared in the cockpit of the plane.
Later on Wednesday, a Japan Airlines spokesman told the Associated Press that it would also cancel Dreamliner flights until the cause of the problem is analyzed, and then Japan's transport ministry announced that all 787 jets would be grounded for safety checks.
Dreamliners have had other troubles recently, including a Jan. 7 electrical fire on a Japan Airlines 787 in Boston and a fuel leak later last week that delayed a flight from Boston to Tokyo. The cutting-edge aircraft -- made from carbon-composite materials that make it lighter and more fuel efficient than other passenger planes -- also had incidents of a brake computer glitch and cracked cockpit window.
Hours before the inaugural flight of the 787 out of San Jose, the Federal Aviation Administration announced that it would perform a safety review of the aircraft.
On Tuesday evening, the FAA said it is looking into the latest malfunction.
"The FAA is monitoring a preliminary report of an incident in Japan earlier today involving a Boeing 787," read the statement. "The incident will be included in the comprehensive review the FAA began last week of the 787 critical systems, including design, manufacture and assembly."
The ANA inaugural flight to Tokyo left San Jose last Friday amid much fanfare, and city leaders hope the international flights will ring in a new era for the recently upgraded airport. It was the first direct flight from San Jose to Asia since American Airlines halted service to Tokyo seven years ago.
The airport face-lift left it with a $1.5 billion debt, and ANA's announcement in August to begin serving Mineta was lauded as harbinger for more international service -- other potential carriers to Asia and Europe have indicated to airport officials that they are watching to see how ANA does.
San Jose officials estimate that ANA's service will generate $78 million in business for the region and 61 jobs in San Jose in its first year.
Contact Eric Kurhi at 408-920-5852. Follow him at Twitter.com/erickurhi.
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