The Investigation Into Boeing's Dreamliner Batteries Just Got Even More Complicated

While Boeing hurries to find what caused lithium ion batteries in its Dreamliner jets to catch fire, and get back in the air after being grounded last week, a new report from The National Transportation Safety Board may complicate things.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the organization took the unusual step of releasing a report early Sunday morning that finds two separate battery fires were caused by different issues.

Investigators looking into a battery malfunction on a Nippon Airlines flight on January 15th found that the battery may have been overcharged, causing the fire that forced an emergency landing. This report reveals that the battery causing a fire that took place a week earlier on a grounded Japan Airlines plane "did not exceed its designed voltage."

Boeing likely hoped that they could zero in on one issue and get the planes back into the air quickly.

This could mean two different investigations looking into two different problems with the batteries.

Early on, executives like Qatar Airways chief Akbar Al-Baker, the largest customer for the plane, downplayed the issues, calling them "teething problems" common to new planes. Now he's grounded his fleet, and the longer the planes are grounded, the worse things could get for Boeing.

If airlines start demanding compensation or cutting back on orders, this could get extremely expensive.

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