Dreamliner no-fly forces ANA to cancel 681 more flights

Tokyo, Feb 7 (AFP) Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA) said today it would cancel 681 flights in March, bringing the number of flights scrapped due to the Boeing Dreamliner's grounding last month to nearly 1,900. ANA said it would cancel 461 domestic flights and 220 international flights in March, including flights bound for Seoul and Seattle. Flight cancellations since the grounding now stand at 1,887 and affect more than 126,000 passengers, the carrier said. ANA is the biggest Dreamliner customer with 17 of the world's 50 operational Boeing 787s. The next-generation aircraft has suffered a series of glitches since last month, prompting a global alert from the US Federal Aviation Administration that led to the worldwide grounding of all operational 787s. The risk of fire from overheating powerpacks emerged as a major concern after pilots were forced to land a domestic ANA flight on January 16 due to smoke possibly linked to the lithium-ion battery. Multiple probes into the fuel-efficient plane's battery system have so far proved inconclusive. (AFP) SAI 02071405 NNNN