A Boeing 787 operated by Ethiopian Airlines flew from Ethiopia to Kenya's capital Saturday, the first commercial flight since air safety authorities grounded the Dreamliners after incidents with smoldering batteries on two different planes in January.
Federal regulators are telling airlines they can fly Boeing's 787 Dreamliners again as soon as they replace its problematic lithium ion batteries with a revamped battery system.
The new battery setup has been installed on 10 787s that belong to airlines, and on nine more that have been built but not delivered, said Boeing Co. Chairman and CEO Jim McNerney on Wednesday.
Polish national airline LOT said Tuesday its Boeing 787s, which had been grounded for months due to battery problems, will resume flying in June and that it will seek compensation from the U.S. plane maker.
As airlines prepare to resume flying Boeing's beleaguered 787 Dreamliners, federal investigators looked Tuesday at how regulators and the company tested and approved the plane's cutting-edge battery system, and whether the government cedes too much safety-testing authority to aircraft makers.
On Friday, federal regulators approved Boeing's battery fix, clearing the way for the plane to fly again, although the timing remained uncertain. The shares rose 2 percent to close at $87.96 on Friday, and are now up almost 17 percent for the year.
Federal officials intend to lift the order grounding the beleaguered 787 Dreamliner after accepting Boeing's revamped battery system even though the root cause of battery failures that led to a fire on one plane and smoke on another remains unknown.
Boeing says it will slow down production of its superjumbo 747-8 because of weak demand.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Federal Aviation Administration is set to approve Boeing's fix for the ion-lithium batteries. The 787 Dreamliner has been grounded since mid-January because of smoldering batteries that in one case caused a serious fire.
A brand new Lion Air jet that slammed into the sea as it tried to land on the Indonesian resort island of Bali over the weekend remains stuck in shallow water and must be cut into pieces for removal.
All 108 passengers and crew survived after a new Lion Air jet crashed into the ocean and snapped into two while attempting to land Saturday on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, injuring up to 45 people.
The airline has committed to order 20 737-800s, a version of the plane Boeing is making now. Turkish also plans to buy 40 737 Max 8s and 10 737 Max 9s, which is a planned new version of the plane which will have new engines.
Boeing said its flight of a 787 on Friday should wrap up the testing for its fix of the battery problems that have kept the plane grounded since January.
Boeing says it has finished more than half of the testing on its proposed battery fix for the 787, with the rest of the ground and flight tests coming in the next several days.
The company said Monday's flight was designed to test system upgrades and not to check operation of the plane's batteries.
(Updated) United Airlines restarting 787 Dreamliner flights
