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United [ Airlines ] said the planes already in the air would land as scheduled and that it would immediately comply with the FAA order.

Well isn't that nice of them!

All of Boeing's flagship 787 Dreamliners have been grounded amid safety concerns.

Authorities in Europe, Chile, Ethiopia, India, Japan and Qatar followed the lead of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) by taking all 787 flights temporarily out of service after a Japanese Dreamliner was forced by a smoke alert to make an emergency landing on Wednesday.

This morning Qantas said it was cancelling an order for a single Dreamliner which it had planned to add to the Jetstar fleet.

January 16: An ANA Dreamliner passenger plane makes an emergency landing in Japan after smoke is reportedly seen inside the cockpit.
January 14: Japan's transport ministry says it has begun examining the Dreamliner that suffered two fuel leakages in less than a week.
January 13: A Japan Airlines (JAL) 787 suffers a fuel spill for the second time in a week.
January 11: US regulators announce an in-depth safety review of the Dreamliner after a spate of incidents involving the aircraft.
A crack in a cockpit windshield grounds an ANA Dreamliner after a domestic flight in Japan.
An ANA Dreamliner, also on a domestic Japanese flight, experiences a delay due to an oil leak.
January 9: ANA cancels a Dreamliner flight because of a brake problem.
January 8: A Japan Airlines 787 flight to Tokyo is grounded in Boston following a fuel spill.
January 7: A fire breaks out aboard an empty Japan Airlines 787 Dreamliner in Boston.

This morning Qantas said it was cancelling an order for a single Dreamliner which it had planned to add to the Jetstar fleet.

The airline insists the move is unrelated to recent troubles affecting Dreamliner fleets, which have been grounded by US and Japanese airlines while technical problems are investigated.

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

Boeing, and the passengers as well, are lucky they were using Lithium Ion batteries and not the more exotic Lithium metal variety. The Lithium metal batteries don't burn, they explode quite violently if shorted either internally or externally.

United States aerospace giant Boeing says it has suspended deliveries of its new 787 Dreamliner jets until a battery problem is resolved, but will continue to build the planes.

In Washington, the top US transportation official, Ray LaHood, said the 787 would not fly until regulators were "1,000 per cent sure" it was safe. A week earlier, Mr LaHood said he would not hesitate to travel on a Dreamliner.

Qantas said it cancelled an order for one of 15 Dreamliners earmarked for its budget arm Jetstar.

It said the decision to cancel was taken late last year, before the plane's recent problems. Qantas has options to order 50 of the new generation aircraft.