Boeing Shows Brave Face as 787s Sit Idle
NTSB investigator Joseph Panagiotou uses a stereo microscope to examine a battery cell from the JAL Boeing 787 that caught fire on January 7. (Photo: NTSB)
NTSB investigator Joseph Panagiotou uses a stereo microscope to examine a battery cell from the JAL Boeing 787 that caught fire on January 7. (Photo: NTSB)

As U.S. National Transportation Safety Board investigators continued their painstaking examination of the lithium-ion battery that caught fire on February 7 in a Japan Airlines Boeing 787, the airplane’s manufacturer projected a business-as-usual posture during its fourth-quarter earnings call last Wednesday. Boeing chief executive Jim McNerney reiterated the company’s intention to maintain 787 production at five per month until mid-year, when plans still call for an increase to seven a month and, finally, to ten per month by the end of the year. McNerney repeatedly said he didn’t want to comment on “hypotheticals” when asked about the potential effect of a long-term grounding of the fleet.