Boeing 787’s range faces FAA cap after Rolls glitch

Bloomberg

Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner planes equipped with a batch of potentially faulty Rolls-Royce Holdings engines face restrictions on how far they can fly following a ruling by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The measure, which Boeing has said affects about a quarter of in-service 787s, restricts the planes from operating more than 140 minutes from a diversionary airport, down from 330 minutes, the FAA said.
The move comes after the European Aviation Safety Agency last week ordered additional maintenance checks on Trent 1000 “package C” engines after it was found that durability issues afflicting blades were worse than first thought. About 350 turbines will be affected, according to London-based Rolls.
“The directives mandate action that Boeing and Rolls-Royce previously recommended to the fleet, including additional inspections of the intermediate pressure compressor blade at certain cycles and operational changes,” Boeing said. “The exact impact is dependent on how airlines choose to operate the airplane.” The FAA imposed the restrictions because the affected blades on the Trent have been found to vibrate at high levels of thrust under certain conditions.