Chinese airlines unaffected by Boeing Dreamliners grounding

Orders by Chinese airlines to buy 41 Boeing 787 Dreamliners will not be affected despite several countries, including the US, Japan and India grounding the planes due to fire risk, officials here said today.

None of the Chinese airlines have the Dreamliners yet as they have not been delivered.

Boeing 787s purchased by Chinese airlines have not yet been delivered and these orders will not be affected, the US plane maker and two Chinese air companies told Xinhua news agency.

Four Chinese airlines have ordered a total of 41 Boeing 787s, including 15 for Air China, the country's flagship carrier, and all of them are awaiting delivery, said an official in charge of press relations at Boeing (China) Co, Ltd.

China Southern Airlines and Hainan Airlines each booked 10 Dreamliners, while the government has not yet approved the six Dreamliners ordered by Xiamen Airlines, the official told the official news agency.

A press official at Air China said he has not been informed of any changes in the company's Boeing 787 orders, which are expected to be delivered in 2014.

Xiamen Airlines, which also expect deliveries in 2014, has not seen its orders affected by the incidents so far, the company's press official told Xinhua.

Hainan Airlines "always considers it a top priority to ensure operation safety" and will follow the US authorities' safety appraisal on the Boeing 787s, the company said.

Aviation regulators in Japan and India today joined their US counterparts in grounding Dreamliners after a Japanese domestic flight operated by All Nippon Airways (ANA) made an emergency landing on Wednesday, when a pilot saw a warning message that indicated battery problems in the 787.

The emergency landing came on the heels of a series of problems involving the Boeing 787, and has raised safety concerns over the company's new fuel-efficient carbon fiber made model.

Boeing forecast that China would need 5,260 new commercial airplanes by 2031, costing the country a total of USD 670 billion over the next 20 years.