FRIDAY 4 OCT 2013 12:43 PM

ANOTHER BLOW TO BOEING AS 787 DREAMLINER PULLED

Boeing’s attempts to move on from the problems that have plagued its 787 Dreamliner service has suffered a new blow this week as budget airline Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA withdrew its planes after less than 30 days in service.

Making an unusually vocal public statement criticising the airline brand, Norwegian Air spokesman Lasse Sandaker-Nielsen said, "Our passengers cannot live with this kind of performance,” also claiming that “the aircraft's reliability is simply not acceptable."

The Norwegian airline said that it had to rent planes and cancel tickets when it could not use its 787s, and that the company's stock has fallen 6% as a result.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, “On Sept. 23, the carrier said one Dreamliner was beset with problems in the oxygen supply to the cockpit.”

In a statement, Boeing said: "Norwegian has contracted with Boeing to provide engineering, spare parts and maintenance services for its 787s. "We regret the inconvenience and disruption caused to the airline and its passengers as a result of this process."

As Boeing's biggest bet on new technology in nearly 20 years, the Dreamliner cost an estimated $32 billion to develop. It was designed to use a powerful electrical system to drive air conditioning and replace hydraulic functions, therefore taking less power from the engines than traditional aircraft designs

However, the airline has been beset by electrical and battery problems this year which led to regulators preventing the airliner from flying for several months after batteries overheated on two of its jets within the space of two weeks and caused a fire to break out on a parked Japan Airlines plane in Boston.

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