Qatar Airways grounds its Dreamliners due to safety concerns

The Doha-based carrier said its decision was based on a directive issued yesterday by the US Federal Aviation Administration, which urged all operators of the Dreamliner to ground the aircraft following an emergency landing in Japan this week and a similar problem in Boston nine days earlier.

Authorities in Europe, Japan and India have also issued orders for the planes to stay grounded while the battery problem is investigated.

The first commercial 787 flight took off in October 2011, and the planes flew without major problems for about a year. But since July, the aircraft has suffered a host of reported incidents including a fuel leak, an oil leak, two cracked engines, and a damaged cockpit window.

Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al-Baker had previously dismissed these incidents as "teething problems", saying he had no plans to cancel orders.

But in the most serious incident so far, an All Nippon Airlines 787 with 129 people aboard made an emergency landing yesterday after instruments aboard a domestic flight indicated a battery error.

Today the carrier said it would heed the instructions issued to it by the FAA and Qatar's Civil Aviation Authority. "In light of recent events surrounding the Boeing 787 Dreamliner worldwide, we are actively working with Boeing and the regulators to restore full customer confidence in the 787," Al-Baker said.

"Qatar Airways will resume 787 operations when we are clear that the aircraft meets the full requirements of the [FAA directive] and our standards which assure the safety of our passengers and crew at all times. So we are not flying the aircraft until and only such a time this is achieved.

"Qatar Airways would like to express our sincere apologies to passengers booked on our 787 flights, but we are sure they will understand our concerns in view of recent events with other 787 operators around the world. Our staff are assisting all affected passengers to be accommodated on other flights to get them to their final destination with minimum inconvenience."

Qatar Airways is the largest customer of the Dreamliner in the Middle East with an order for up to 60 of the aircraft - 30 firm orders plus an option on acquiring 30 more. It currently has a fleet of five 787 jets.

"In tune with the FAA directive and the move by Europe to also ground 787s, Qatar Airways is taking a prudent approach that allows the airplane fleet to be rigorously checked in order for passenger flights to resume," said aviation analyst Saj Ahmad.

"That said, we have to remember this voluntary action is precautionary outside of the USA, so Qatar Airways decision to follow suit will not have been easy. But in light of the recent incidents it is the right thing to do - safety is paramount and the airline is taking the right measures to ensure that that is not compromised," he added.