Boeing Gave Japan No Timetable on 787 Resumption

TOKYO--Japan's transport minister said Friday that Boeing Co. (BA) didn't present a timetable for the resumption of 787 Dreamliner operations during a meeting Thursday.

"There was no comment (from Boeing) on the likely resumption or the schedule," Transport Minister Akihiro Ohta said at a press conference.

The comment came a day after Raymond Conner, head of Boeing's commercial airplane unit, met the minister to reassure Japanese regulators that a set of fixes it proposed for its Dreamliner jets would address the safety troubles that have grounded the planes.

The proposals provide three layers of protection--steps to prevent each cell in the battery from overheating, those to keep the heat from spreading from one cell to another if overheating occurs, and those to prevent the whole battery from catching fire if the heat spreads, the minister said.

On Thursday, the ministry declined to comment on the details of the proposed enhancements.

The measures presented to the ministry are a "proposal," and efforts to get the Dreamliner back in the air represent a "starting" point, he said.

It will likely "take some time" to examine and approve the proposal, while still working to understand the root cause of the incidents, the minister said.

Battery problems on two Boeing 787 Dreamliners, one each operated by Japan Airlines Co. (9201.TO) and All Nippon Airways Co. (9202.TO) in January led to the global grounding of the high-tech jet.

Write to Yoshio Takahashi at [e-mail]

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