Fourth Dreamliner incident after US probe announced

Jan 14, 2013 

A fourth problem in a week affecting the new-generation Boeing 787 Dreamliner has emerged.

Japan Airlines reported a 100-litre fuel leak in a 787 during an inspection in Toyko yesterday.

The aircraft reportedly was the same one that had a fuel leak in Boston last Tuesday, which saw its flight aborted after around 40 gallons of fuel spilled onto the runway, according to theAFP news agency.

A Japan Airlines-operated 787 Dreamliner caught fire after landing in Boston on a flight from Tokyo a week ago as the aircraft sat empty of passengers on the tarmac. It took firefighters 40 minutes to put out the blaze.

All Nippon Airways cancelled a Dreamliner flight on Wednesday because of a brake problem, which was the third glitch to hit the next-generation aircraft in as many days.

Boeing has insisted that the 787's problems are no worse than what it experienced when its 777 was new in the mid-1990s.

The US Federal Aviation Administration announced on Friday that it would conduct a comprehensive review of the design, manufacture and assembly of the Boeing 787 after recent incidents.

However, transportation officials said there was nothing in the data the agency had seen to suggest the aircraft was not safe to fly.