13.01.18Japan's Transport Ministry Orders Grounding of Boeing's Dreamliners

Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) issued a technical circular directive (TCD) in the wake of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's emergency airworthiness directive which has ordered the grounding of Boeing 787 aircraft known as Dreamliner. The administrative order was triggered by a series of recent incidents involving Japanese airlines' B787 jets allegedly resulting from lithium ion battery failures.

There are 49 Dreamliners flying in the world as of end 2012, of which All Japan Airways (ANA) operates 17 and Japan Airlines (JAL) 7.

Under the MLIT's directive, the two largest Japanese airlines are required to summit a report by January 28 to the inspectors of the ministry on the modifications they will have made.