The Boeing 787 Dreamliner was introduced as a game-changer in commercial aviation - an aircraft designed to be lighter, faster, and more fuel-efficient than anything before it.

It’s also the latest disaster to hit the beleaguered American aerospace giant — which has been dogged by a door that blew off a 737 jet, a leaky spacecraft that stranded astronauts on the International Space Station for months, as well as politically damaging delays in outfitting the new Air Force One jets.