United Airlines to Reintroduce Dreamliner Flights Next Week
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Duncan Chard/Bloomberg via Getty Images(HOUSTON) — Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner planes will be taking off again soon. Following extensive reviews by the FAA and Boeing, which ultimately led to battery system repairs and improvement, United Airlines said Monday the company was preparing to reintroduce Dreamliner flights.
“Boeing and the FAA were diligent in their work to fix the battery issue, and now the Dreamliner is poised to fly the mission we planned and provide our customers with the features and reliability they want on their long-haul flights,” said Pete McDonald, United Airlines chief operations officer.
U.S. and Japanese regulators took all 50 Dreamliners out of service in January after batteries on two of its flights overheated.
In one incident, a lithium-ion battery caught fire on a Japan Airlines flight parked at Boston’s Logan Airport. In another, smoke from a battery system on an All Nippon Airways flight in Japan forced an emergency landing.
Boeing has converted two of the six Dreamliners in United’s fleet to the new FAA standards, and will soon complete the conversion process for the remaining aircraft.
United has scheduled domestic flights on the Dreamliner to begin May 20. International flights from Denver to Tokyo are set to begin June 10.
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