Dreamliner: Two JAL flights diverted due to glitches

BBC News, 10 October 2013

Aerospace and Defence

• Fuel supply warning for Alitalia
• Airbus in $9.5bn Japan Airlines deal
• Extra runway capacity 'needed'
• Indian cabinet backs Jet Etihad deal

The Dreamliner has been hit by a spate
 of technical and safety issues in recent
months

Japan Airlines (JAL) has said it has turned around two of its Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft during flights due to technical problems.

On one plane one of the two anti-ice systems, which prevent ice building-up around the engine, failed.

Meanwhile, an electric glitch rendered six toilets unusable on another flight.

These are the latest technical issues to hit the Dreamliner, which saw the entire fleet being grounded earlier this year following battery problems.

The anti-icing system failed on a Tokyo-bound flight that took off from San Diego.

A spokesperson for JAL told the BBC that a similar issue had forced a Tokyo-to-Singapore flight to be turned back in June this year.

Meanwhile, an electrical system failure connected to the lavatories affected a flight from Moscow to Tokyo.

The failure resulted in six of the seven toilets on the plane not being able to flush.

The airline said that it was looking into the problems.