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LOT Dreamliner prepares first flight to Chicago as Japan grounds fleet

PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle 16.01.2013 09:30
As Japan grounds its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet after safety fears, Poland's LOT airlines is scheduled to make its first transatlantic crossing in its Dreamliner on Wednesday.

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A handout image taken from a live camera and released by Shikoku Shimbun on 16 January 2013 shows a Boeing 787 operated by All Nippon Airways Co (ANA) after its emergency landing at Takamatsu airport, western Japan: EPA/SHIKOKU SHIMBUN

All Nippon Airways (ANA) grounded its 17 Dreamliners when a flight from Yamaguchi Ube airport to Tokyo was forced to land shortly after take-off when smoke was seen in the cockpit.

"There was a battery alert in the cockpit and there was an odd smell detected in the cockpit and cabin,” said ANA vice president Osamu Shinobe.

Passengers had to be evacuated from the plane on emergency chutes when it returned to the airport, Rueters reports.

Japan Airlines then immediately grounded its seven 787s until further notice.

US civil aviation authorities are already investigating the safety of the new 787 Dreamliners and India's aviation authorities are reviewing safety standards of the aircraft.

Meanwhile, Poland's LOT national airlines is preparing to go ahead, as scheduled, with the first flight by its Dreamliner – which it took delivery of last November – to Chicago on Wednesday.

The 787 will take passengers, including several government officials, to O'Hare airport in Chicago on the plane's inaugural transatlantic flight.

LOT is the first airline in Europe to use the new Dreamliners.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, a LOT spokesman said on Tuesday night that the flight will go ahead as scheduled.

Earlier this week a LOT spokesman said its Dreamliners are safe. (pg)

tags: Dreamliner, LOT
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