Ethiopian Airlines grounds its Boeing Dreamliner fleet

Ethiopian Airlines has grounded its four Dreamliners. This comes after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States ordered a safety review of the aircraft, the airline said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the FAA issued a recommendation grounding all US-registered Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft to address a possible battery fire risk.

Japan’s largest airline, ANA, and its competitor JAL have each grounded their entire fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners after an emergency landing due to a smoke alarm in the cockpit

Ethiopian Airlines said its Dreamliners had been performing well and the decision to ground the four planes was a precautionary measure.

“We have not encountered the type of problems such as those experienced by the other operators. However, as an extra precautionary safety measure and in line with its commitment of putting safety above all else, Ethiopian Airliens has decided to pull out its four Dreamliners from operation,” the statement said.

In addition to the four Dreamliners in operation, Ethiopian Airlines has six more on order from the manufacturer, Boeing. The full fleet is expected to arrive by the end of 2014.

The carrier, one of Africa’s largest, Ethiopian Airlines is the first African airline to operate the Dreamliner.