Japan's ANA says 787 engine repairs could take three years

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese carrier ANA Holdings Inc said on Tuesday it could take as long as three years to replace faulty turbine blades in the Rolls-Royce (RR.L) engines powering its Boeing (BA.N) 787s.

ANA said last week that under certain flight conditions some of its 50 Dreamliners have been affected by vibrations caused by cracked turbine blades in the rear sections of the engines, forcing three flights since February to return to airports in Japan.

The carrier has halted 18 flights this month resulting in 82 million yen (613,713.12 pounds) in lost revenue as it works on the jets and has said it may cancel other flights in coming months.

Rolls-Royce was not immediately available for comment. The company has so far said the problem is limited to a portion of 787s operated by the Japanese airline.

All of ANA's Dreamliners are powered by Rolls-Royce engines. The Japanese airline, which was the 787's launch customer, is the biggest operator of the Boeing plane, with more than a tenth of the global fleet.

Of the 445 Dreamliners in operation worldwide, about 40 percent use the Rolls-Royce engines, according to Boeing.

Other operators of 787s equipped with the Rolls-Royce engine include British Airways (ICAG.L), Air China , Air New Zealand (AIR.NZ), LATAM Airlines Group (LAN.SN) and Singapore Airline's (SIAL.SI) Scoot.

Airlines that order the 787 Dreamliner can choose between the Rolls-Royce engines and General Electric Co's (GE.N) GEnx engines.

(Reporting by Maki Shiraki; Editing by Tom Hogue)