Boeing 787 Dreamliner could fly as soon as Friday
Apr 25, 2013, 9:40 AM | Updated: 3:21 pm
Boeing 787 on the runway at Paine Field in Everett as part of its test flights. (The Boeing Company)
(The Boeing Company)
The federal government has just given U.S. airlines the go-ahead to fly the 787 Dreamliner, which has been grounded for months because of concerns about its lithium ion battery system.
The Federal Aviation Administration safety order, known as an Airworthiness Directive, posted
online Thursday says any airline that has modified its 787s with battery enclosures and other approved fixes can fly as soon as Friday.
Boeing is making changes to the battery design and adding a steel enclosure to prevent any overheating from affecting the plane.
The F-A-A estimates the cost to beef up the Dreamliner’s battery system at more than $464,000 per jet. That’s $2.8 million dollars for the six jets in the United Airlines fleet and about $23 million for the 50 jets in service worldwide. The F-A-A points out that the expenses might be covered under warranty.
In a statement, Boeing’s Marc Birtel said, “The FAA’s publication of the Airworthiness Directive is an important step forward in returning the 787 fleet to flight status.”
Ethiopian Airlines this week announced it will fly a 787 Saturday. Poland’s national airline, LOT, says it is resuming flights on its two grounded Boeing 787s on June 5 and is selling tickets for the flights. LOT’s 787s will at first fly from Warsaw to Chicago and later to New York, Toronto, and Beijing.
All Dreamliners, worldwide, have been grounded since mid-January, following a battery fire on a 787 parked at Boston’s Logan International Airport, and a smoking battery that led to an emergency landing by another 787 in Japan.
A senior engineer with Boeing says the company may never know what caused battery problems that have grounded the company’s 787 Dreamliners.
Richard J. Horigan, the engineering leader of the 787, said Thursday the root cause of smoldering batteries experienced by the two different 787s may never be known because the evidence was destroyed by heat. Horigan also said that all potential root causes of the battery fire have been eliminated with the new redesigned battery system.
Boeing has orders for 840 more planes.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
