Japanese airlines' flight cancellations top 450 with Boeing jet grounded

TOKYO - Reuters

The visitors look at and take photos of the first production model of the new Boeing 787 airplane after it was unveiled to an audience of several thousand at Boeing's assembly plant in Everett, Wash. AP Photo/Ted S. Warren

All Nippon Airways Co, which has the biggest fleet of Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner jets, on Friday cancelled another 78 flights scheduled for Jan. 29-31 - bringing total cancellations at the Japanese carrier since one of the planes made an emergency landing on Jan. 16 to 459.

All Dreamliners have been grounded since Jan. 17 due to unexplained battery problems.

ANA, which has 17 of the 50 Dreamliners that Boeing has delivered to airlines to date, said the cancellations have affected more than 58,000 passengers, adding it would announce on Saturday which flights it will not run from Feb. 1.

ANA says on its website that it flies around 3.7 million passengers each month on domestic and international routes ANA, which has put the lightweight, fuel-efficient jetliner at the centre of its growth strategy, may have to scale back its next 2-year plan as it weighs the mounting cost of the new aircraft's grounding.

U.S. safety officials looking into a battery fire on a separate 787 jet said on Thursday they are nowhere close to completing their probe, raising the prospect of a lengthy suspension for the technologically advanced aircraft.