The Boeing 787 Dreamliner was hit wit yet another problem. A Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA Dreamliner was delayed for about 19 hours due to a fuel leak.
The flight was supposed to take off from Bangkok and head to Oslo on Sunday. Passengers were already on board when crew members noticed that there was a fuel leak, Reuters reports.
A spokesman said the problem was due to an issue with a fuel valve. After the issue was discovered, the passengers were removed from the aircraft and it was taken out of service. The flight left Bangkok 19 hours later and was then sent to a maintenance facility in Stockholm.
Boeing is investigating the problem and did not release any more details.
This is just one of many problems that the 787 Dreamliner has experienced lately. The 787 first entered service in late 2011 and has had many issues in since. Issues with the battery became so bad that all Dreamliners in the world were grounded in January 2012. Two jets had problems with lithium-ion batteries overheating within two weeks.
The Norwegian airline itself had issues with the Dreamliner recently. In October, airline Chief Executive Bjorn Kjos said the aircraft has great flying performance and saves fuel but they had to take one of their new aircraft out of service for two weeks and lease another plane because there were issues with a hydraulic pump. The pump was redesigned by Boeing.
Just last week, a battery melted and caused a parked 787 Dreamliner to smoke. The Japan Airlines jet at Tokyo Narita airport had to be taken out of service.
Norwegian is finding the 787 to not be as reliable as older plane models. "Recently, the overall reliability of our 787 fleet has not been satisfactory," spokesman Lasse Sandaker-Nielsen told Reuters.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
