Now that Boeing’s massive Dreamliner aircraft has been grounded in the U.S. and around the world, airlines are switching to other planes to carry their passengers.
At Los Angeles International Airport, only two airlines use the Boeing 787, officials at the airport said, United Airlines and the Chilean carrier LAN.
United Airlines, which had been using the planes to fly to Tokyo and Houston from Los Angeles, said it is still flying the same routes at the same times, but just using different aircraft, a spokeswoman said.
LAN, which used the Dreamliner for three flights a week to Santiago, said it would also use other craft in place of the troubled Boeing plane.
“Flights that were scheduled to be operated by the 787 will be temporarily replaced with other aircraft in our fleet to mitigate any potential impacts that this situation could cause to its passengers and cargo clients,” the airline said in a statement on its website.
“The safety of the operation and its passengers is LAN’s top priority and the company regrets any inconvenience that this may cause.”
On Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded the 787 for use in the United States after batteries that help power its engines failed twice during flight.
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Earlier in the day, the battery failed on a 787 in Japan while the plane was in the air, the FAA said. A similar incident took place in Boston on Jan. 7, this time while the plane was on the ground.
The FAA plans to examine the plane’s design, manufacture, assembly as well as its flight systems before allowing the 787 to fly again in the U.S.
United Airlines is the only U.S. carrier that had started using the 787s, the FAA said. The airline owns six of the 787s, new aircraft which had been the pride of manufacturer Boeing.
