Regulators Around the Globe Ground Boeing 787s

Kyodo News, via Reuters

The 787 that made an emergency landing in Japan on Wednesday. All 137 passengers and crew members were evacuated safely.

Regulators around the globe on Thursday ordered the grounding of Boeing 787s until they could determine what caused a new type of battery to fail on two planes in recent days, resulting in an emergency landing Wednesday and a fire last week.

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Passengers evacuated a Boeing 787 operated by All Nippon Airways on Wednesday. It made an emergency landing in Japan after smoke arose in the cockpit.

The directives in Europe, India and Japan followed an order Wednesday by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration grounding planes operated by American carriers.

The decisions are a result of incidents involving a 787 that was parked in Boston on Jan. 7 and another in Japan that had to make an emergency landing Wednesday morning after an alarm warning of smoke in the cockpit.

In Japan on Thursday, the Transportation Ministry issued a formal order to ground all 787s until concerns over the aircraft’s battery systems are resolved. All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines on Wednesday had voluntarily grounded their 787s, leading to more than two dozen canceled flights.

European safety regulators also said they would ground Dreamliners, which would affect LOT of Poland, the only carrier that operates the jets in that region. A spokesman for the European Aviation Safety Agency, based in Cologne, said that it was prepared to provide some of its own experts to support the Federal Aviation Administration’s investigation but that no such assistance had been requested yet.

In India, the aviation regulator grounded all six of the 787s operated by the state-owned carrier Air India.

LAN Airlines of Chile said it was following suit, acting in coordination with the Chilean Aeronautical Authority.

And on Thursday, Qatar Airways said it would follow the F.A.A.’s decision and immediately ground its five 787s.

The F.A.A.’s emergency directive, issued Wednesday night, initially applied to United Airlines, the only American carrier using the new plane so far, with six 787s.

Boeing, based in Chicago, has a lot riding on the 787, and its stock dropped nearly 3.4 percent Wednesday to $74.34. The company has outlined ambitious plans to double its production rate to 10 planes a month by the end of 2013. It is also starting to build a stretch version and considering an even larger one after that.

“We are confident the 787 is safe and we stand behind its overall integrity,” Jim McNerney, Boeing’s chief executive, said in a statement.

The grounding â€" an unusual action for a new plane â€" focuses on one of the more risky design choices made by Boeing, namely to make extensive use of lithium-ion batteries aboard its airplanes for the first time.

Until now, much of the attention on the 787 was focused on its lighter composite materials and more efficient engines, meant to usher in a new era of more fuel-efficient travel, particularly over long distances. The batteries are part of an electrical system that replaces many mechanical and hydraulic ones that are common in previous jets.

The 787’s problems could jeopardize one of its major features, its ability to fly long distances at a lower cost. The plane is certified to fly 180 minutes from an airport. The U.S. government is unlikely to extend that to 330 minutes, as Boeing has promised, until all problems with the plane have been resolved.

For Boeing, “it’s crucial to get it right,” said Richard L. Aboulafia, an aviation analyst at Teal Group in Fairfax, Virginia. “They’ve got a brief and closing window in which they can convince the public and their flying customers that this is not a problem child.”

In Japan on Thursday, government investigators examined the 787 that made the emergency landing. Footage on the public broadcaster NHK showed officials removing a charred and swollen lithium-ion battery pack from the front of the plane.

Corrosive liquid appeared to have leaked out of the batteries, leaving streaks on their blue casing, said Hideo Kosugi, a safety official who is head of the inquiry. Investigators also found black discolorations outside exhaust vents on the plane, which suggested that there had been smoke inside the aircraft at one point.

“The batteries have retained their basic shape, but are black all over,” Mr. Kosugi said. Something caused the battery to overheat and spew liquid, he added, “but we still do not know what is the cause.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: January 17, 2013

An earlier version of this article said an emergency landing of the 787 took place on Monday. It was Wednesday.

A version of this article appeared in print on January 18, 2013, in The International Herald Tribune.