15 Jan 2014

Japan grounds Dreamliner fleet

6:04 pm on 15 January 2014

Japan Airlines has grounded one of its fleet of 787 Dreamliner aircraft after smoke was detected coming from the plane's battery.

A Dreamliner 787.

A Dreamliner 787. Photo: AFP

The problem was discovered during routine maintenance in Tokyo.

The latest incident aboard a 787 appears very similar to those that caused the plane to be grounded last year, the BBC reports.

During regular maintenance, engineers noticed smoke venting from the fuselage of a Japan Airlines plane.

When they checked the battery compartment, they found one of the lithium iron batteries inside had overheated and was oozing black liquid.

However, Boeing has been quick to say that this latest battery meltdown was no threat to the aircraft.