September 27, 2013, 12:05 p.m. ET
By GUSTAV SANDSTROM
The Wall Street Journal
One of Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA's Dreamliner jets remained grounded in Bangkok Friday due to technical problems, adding to a range of recent mishaps and coming after the Norwegian budget earlier this week held a crisis meeting with Boeing Co. over the issue.
The jet should have left Bangkok for Stockholm, Sweden, at 5:30 p.m. local time with almost 200 passengers but had to remain on the ground due to hydraulic pump problems, Norwegian press spokeswoman Charlotte Holmbergh Jacobsson said Friday.
The passengers have been rebooked on other flights, and some of them have been checked into hotels, Ms. Holmbergh Jacobsson said. Norwegian is still trying to fix the aircraft's technical problems, she said.
Norwegian operates two Dreamliners on long-distance routes from Scandinavia to Asia and the U.S., and aims to phase in six more over the next few years as it ramps up its long-haul service. But it has had to ground the aircraft several times in recent weeks due to technical issues including hydraulics problems, power supply issues and indications of malfunctioning brakes. LOT Polish Airlines SA also had to halt flights recently due to technical issues with its Dreamliners, and Qatar Airways has become critical of the aircraft's reliability.
Top managers of Norwegian and Boeing met in Oslo on Wednesday to discuss the recent problems.
"If this continues, it is totally unacceptable," Norwegian Chief Executive Bjørn Kjos told The Wall Street Journal in an interview after the meeting, while a Boeing spokesperson said the company is "working…to ensure we have the right support in place to help each airline through the entry-into-service process."
Norwegian is pressuring Boeing to help resolve the situation, for instance, by setting up spare parts supplies for the aircraft at various destinations, Ms. Holmbergh Jacobsson said Friday.
Source: http://online.wsj.com
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