Will LAN be grounding the Dreamliner? Grounded in US by FAA.
 

The US FAA tonight grounded all US-registered 787s pending a full investigation and action plan on the battery fire risk. That is the same issue as some of the problems that NH had on their 787s. NH and JL voluntarily grounded their 787s.

LAN's Dreamliner does fly to the States. Though the FAA has jurisdiction over all US airspace, they have not banned the 787 from the skies, just grounded any US-registered ones. Which currently means only the sCO (Continental subsidiary) operational division of United.

However, the confidence factor of a US consumer market for a "grounded plane" flown by a foreign carrier when the US's own carriers are not allowed to fly it for safety reasons makes me wonder what LAN will do. Anybody heard any news from LAN? Or speculation while waiting for news?

CNN report: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/16/tr...html?hpt=hp_t1

You beat me to the punch Eastbay. SO here it is in English:

In compliance with the recommendation of the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States (FAA) and in coordination with the Chilean Aeronautical Authority (DGAC), LAN announces that it will temporarily suspend the operation of its three Boeing 787 aircraft.

Flights that were scheduled to be operated by the 787 will be temporarily replaced with other aircraft in our fleet to mitigate any potential impacts that this situation could cause to its passengers and cargo clients. The safety of the operation and its passengers is LAN’s top priority and the company regrets any inconvenience that this may cause.

Yes they did it. Other news mention US, (whole?) Europe, India and Japan have grounded their Dreamliners.

Probably Lan will replace them with 767s. Though the LAN fleet page mention their 787s capacity is 210 to 250 people, and 767s are 214 to 221. Let's see how they manage it.

In any case this is a HUGE black eye for Boeing. It's really shocking the series of troubles and setbacks this aircraft had had. Certainly does not inspire confidence. :td::td::td:

Glad to see that LATAM management did the right thing. Until the problems are fully understood and resolved, nobody should be flying it. I'm relatively confident that they can be solved, but that doesn't mean the reputation of this aircraft will be easily restored.

I'm reading something similar have not happened since 1979 when the DC-10s were grounded after a Chicago accident. Of course that was more serious and the DC-10 had lot of issues.. cargo door, engine support, hydraulics... what almost ended in its extintion. Let's hope this wil not be the case, though the 787 project has been full of problems, since the early 2000s when it was called 7E7.

Yes --- especially since the reputation of this aircraft was already on very thin ice.