Rolls-Royce engine corrosion spurs ANA to check Dreamliners
TOKYO: ANA Holdings is canceling flights as the world’s biggest operator of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner checks for corrosion in the jet’s Rolls-Royce Holdings engines.
The Japanese airline cancelled nine flights scheduled for its 50jet Dreamliner fleet for Friday and may scrub more than 300 trips through the end of September as it deals with cracking in the medium-pressure turbines of the Trent 1000 engines, Takeo Kikuchi, a deputy senior vice-president of engineering and maintenance, told reporters on Thursday in Tokyo.
The disruption is the largest 787-related miscue for ANA since 2013, when Boeing and regulators grounded the global Dreamliner fleet after lithium-ion batteries caught fire on two jets. About 38 percent of the 787s in service are powered by the Trent 1000, while the rest are outfitted with General Electric engines.
The latest problem came to the fore as ANA investigated why a 787 engine overheated during a February flight.
That jet returned to Kuala Lumpur airport after receiving a warning that the temperature of the exhaust gas from its right engine had spiked. ANA has encountered corrosion in turbines since then, most recently on August 20.
The difficulty appeared to be specific to ANA, which frequently uses the wide-body, carbon-composite aircraft for short flights. Rolls-Royce and Boeing said they were working with the Japanese carrier to lessen the impact.
“This issue is limited to a small proportion of the ANA fleet,” a spokesman for London-based Rolls-Royce said, adding that no other airlines were affected.
The European Aviation Safety Agency is considering releasing a service bulletin recommending action from the continent’s carriers, a spokeswoman said by email. There are no US-registered Boeing 787 aircraft with RollsRoyce engines