United Airlines has reportedly found a wiring problem on one of its Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
It is an issue that affects the same system that caused a fire on a Japan Airlines 787 in Boston on Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a source.
The US airline found improperly installed wiring in electrical components associated with the auxiliary power unit, the newspaper reported.
United examined the components after the fire on Monday, which took the JAL aircraft out of service following a flight from Tokyo.
A United spokeswoman said the carrier inspected its 787s after the Boston incident, but she declined to confirm the WSJ report or to discuss the results of the inspections.
Meanwhile, a fuel leak on another 787 caused JAL to cancel its takeoff from Boston’s Logan airport – the second incident in as many days involving the new aircraft.
The aircraft, bound for Tokyo, had left the gate when about 40 gallons (151 litres) of spilled fuel were found. Passengers got off safely and no-one was hurt, an airport spokesman said.
An airline spokeswoman said that the second Dreamliner had returned to the gate because of mechanical issues and details were not yet confirmed, Reuters reported.
Boeing marketing vice president Randy Tinseth said the latest issue with one of JAL’s 787s – a different aircraft to the one involved in Monday’s incident – was resolved after a four-hour delay and the Dreamliner took off for Tokyo.
“As for Monday’s incident involving another JAL 787, we’ve been working closely with the airline, the National Transportation Safety Board and other government agencies.
“JAL tells us that after the airplane landed and all passengers had disembarked, smoke was detected. The smoke was later traced to the battery used to start the auxiliary power unit.
“We can’t talk about any specific details while the investigation is ongoing. But I can tell you that nothing we’ve seen in this case indicates a relationship to any previous 787 power system events, which involved power panel faults elsewhere in the aft electrical equipment bay.
“In the meantime, 787s continue to fly all over the world. The airplanes are in service with eight customers – having logged more than 18,000 flight cycles and flown more than 50,000 hours.
“We have complete confidence in the 787 and vow to take care of any issues our customers are experiencing – day or night.”