'Boeing 787 Dreamliner design safe'

The design and manufacture of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner is safe, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report had said.

It had ordered a review of the plane after battery problems grounded the entire fleet last year.

The FAA said some of Boeing's suppliers did not follow industry standards for inspection that include training and testing requirement for inspectors.

But it said, "effective processes" had been implemented to correct issues that arose during and after certification.

"For manufacturing, early issues with suppliers implementing the new business processes are being addressed, and improvements are in progress throughout the supply chain," said the report, issued jointly by the FAA and Boeing's critical systems review team.

The report added that while some design issues had occurred, their causes tended to represent "individual escapes in the design or manufacture of the airplane".

It said "a certain number of such escapes are to be expected in the development of a complex product such as a large airplane, due to state-of-the-art limitations in current design, manufacturing, and certification processes."

The 787 Dreamliner is considered to be one of the most advanced planes in the industry. However, it has been hit by a series of issues.

Last year, its entire fleet was grounded by regulators amid safety concerns.

That was after a fire in one of Japan Airlines' 787 Dreamliners, and a battery fault forced an All Nippon Airways (ANA) flight to make an emergency landing.

The planes have since been given permission to fly again and Boeing has redesigned the battery system. However, the precise cause of the problem was never conclusively proved.

- BBC