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TOKYO--Japan's transport minister said Friday that the government may have to consider steps to support the operators of Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets following the global suspension of the aircraft last month.

"We may need to think about how to deal with [the suspension] at some point," Akihiro Ota said at a regular press conference.

Still, the minister said the top priority remains finding the cause of incidents that led to the grounding of the aircraft.

A battery that caught fire on a Japan Airlines Co. (9201.TO) 787 in Boston and another battery problem with an All Nippon Airways Co. (9202.TO) 787 prompted the grounding of all 50 787 jets worldwide in mid-January.

Write to Yoshio Takahashi at yoshio.takahashi@dowjones.com

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