Background to the Suspension of Operations
JAL's 787 Incident
On January 7, 2013, JL008 arrived at Boston Logan International Airport around 10:06 (local time). Around 10:30 after all passengers and crew had disembarked, smoke and flames of up to 8cm. were found coming near the battery used for the auxiliary power unit (APU) in the aft electronic equipment bay. The local fire squad extinguished the fire.
JAL's Decision to Suspend Its 787 Operations
Seriously taking the events aboard the 787 of JAL and another Japanese operator, we held an emergency meeting in the morning of January 16, 2013, and decided to suspend operations of our 787 fleet until its safety and security were confirmed.
Meanwhile at Narita, JL441 (operated by a 787), carrying 142 passengers onboard, was making preparations to depart for Moscow at 10:45, but due to this sudden decision, the flight was cancelled. The passengers waited for many hours while we arranged alternative flights. We apologize sincerely for this inconvenience.
Take this opportunity, we would like to sincerely apologize once again to our customers and related parties for worries and inconveniences caused by the suspension of JAL's 787 flights.
Issuance of Airworthiness Directive
On January 17, 2013, the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB), and the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an Airworthiness Directive (AD) providing legal binding instructions that in order to prevent damage to important aircraft systems and the aircraft structure or fire in the electronic equipment bays due to lithium-ion battery failures, the 787 must not be operated unless modifications approved by relevant aviation regulatory authorities are implemented.
Furthermore, the events onboard 787 aircraft of JAL and another Japanese operator are being investigated by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, the civil aviation accident investigation agency of the U.S. where JAL's incident took place, and the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Transport Safety Board, the Japanese civil aviation accident investigation agency. Both entities are cooperating with each other in these investigations.
