All Nippon Airways Co. wants compensation from Boeing Co. for the grounding of its entire fleet of 787 Dreamliners and plans to make the request once the advanced jet is flying again, ANA's incoming president said.
Senior Executive Vice President Osamu Shinobe, who will take the reins of the company on April 1, said in a recent interview that ANA, which owns more 787s than any other carrier, has told Boeing that compensation is necessary.
"But we will not be able to start such negotiations before the aircraft flies again," he said, adding he hopes the impact of the 787 crisis on earnings for the year ending in March "will be limited to several billion yen."
The crisis will be responsible for grounding a total of 3,601 domestic and international flights by the end of May, the carrier said. The ban was put into place on Jan. 16 after an ANA Dreamliner made an emergency landing at Takamatsu airport due to smoke in the cockpit.
Boeing officials said late last week that the U.S. jetmaker is confident the Dreamliner will be cleared to fly within weeks following testing of a proposed remedy for its apparently flawed battery system.
Shinobe added that required modifications to ANA's 17 Dreamliners, including the installation of improved lithium-ion batteries, will likely take at least a month to complete once aviation authorities approve the remedy.