Boeing on Friday confirmed that a United Airlines 787 Dreamliner flying from Washington, D.C. to Paris, France last month experienced a problem with an onboard lithium-ion battery.
The Chicago-based jet maker said it wasn't a "safety of flight issue" or a repeat of the battery problems that grounded Dreamliners four years ago and triggered a federal safety probe.
Boeing spokesman Paul Bergman described the Nov. 13 incident as "a fault with a single cell in the plane’s main battery."
"The airplane systems all worked as designed and the plane landed without incident. A Boeing team worked with United to make repairs and the plane returned to service," he said.
First reported by The Aviation Herald, the "main battery" on a Dreamliner 787-8 triggered an overheat alert as the plane descended toward Paris. After landing, the battery "was found venting fluid (and) dripping fluid from the forward vent relief system," the aviation website reported.
The Aviation Herald said the jet remained in Paris for about 96 hours, then flew to Denver via Washington Dulles and then remained in Denver for another 56 hours before returning to service.
The National Transportation Safety Board concluded the incident was not a reportable event under federal aviation regulations and no investigation has been opened.
Seattle-based aerospace analyst Michel Merluzeau, director of commercial and defense aerospace research with Baltimore-based AIR, said the issue was an isolated incident.
"This is not a big deal and certainly not a repeat of past problems Boeing had with the batteries," Merluzeau said. "The safety mechanisms — a spring valve — worked as advertised."
Bergman said there are about 600 Boeing Dreamliners in service that have collectively flown more than 2.7 billion revenue miles.
Since January 2017, Boeing sales executives won a series of 787 Dreamliner deals that led to the company to increase production of the advanced composite airplane to 14 a month from 12, starting in 2019. Here are some.
