 "FAA approves Dreamliner battery system design")
US regulators approved yesterday a revamped battery system for Boeing Co's 787 Dreamliner, a crucial step in returning the high-tech jet to service after it was grounded in January because its lithium-ion batteries overheated.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval of design changes allows Boeing to immediately begin making repairs to the fleet of 50 planes owned by airlines around the world.
The FAA action all but ends a grounding that has cost Boeing an estimated $600 million, halted deliveries and forced some airlines to lease alternative aircraft. Several airlines have said they would seek compensation from Boeing, potentially adding to the plane maker's losses.
Flying again in days?
“We're back in business, baby!” tweeted the Washington Aerospace Partnership, a group of business, labor and local government leaders supportive of Boeing.
“This is a good step forward,” United Airlines said in a statement. United is the only US carrier with 787s and plans to add them to its schedule starting May 31. Plans to launch service from Denver to Tokyo Narita are set for June 10, but depend on completing the modifications by then, it added.
In theory, the planes could be carrying passengers again within a week. Boeing said it takes five days to refit each jet and that no regulatory barrier prevents airlines from putting planes into service after the work is finished. In practice, however, airlines typically perform “check flights” before carrying passengers, Mike Sinnett, chief 787 programme engineer, told a news conference yesterday.
With 10 teams already in place around the world and yesterday’s approval to begin work, installation could move quickly and then “it’s up to the airlines” when they begin using the plane, Sinnett said. The FAA said it will issue an “airworthiness directive” next week that formally lifts the US ban on passenger flights.
Nearly half of the planes in service are owned by Japanese carriers All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines. Japan’s Civil Aviation Bureau (CAB), the counterpart of the FAA, gave a nod to the FAA’s approval.
“We are closely working with the FAA and are analysing and assessing the 787 improvement measures, and we do not see any problems,” Shigeru Takano, an official at the CAB, said.
The next step for Japan would be to revise its version of the airworthiness directive, known as a “technical circular directive” Takano said that could come on or after April 25.
“We want to make the final decision on flight resumption based on the FAA’s airworthiness directive revision as well as checking the results of a US National Transportation Safety Board-hosted hearing set to take place on April 23 and 24,” he said.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval of design changes allows Boeing to immediately begin making repairs to the fleet of 50 planes owned by airlines around the world.
The FAA action all but ends a grounding that has cost Boeing an estimated $600 million, halted deliveries and forced some airlines to lease alternative aircraft. Several airlines have said they would seek compensation from Boeing, potentially adding to the plane maker's losses.
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The agency also said the jet retained permission to fly up to 180 minutes over remote areas and oceans once US regulators allowed the Dreamliner to return to the skies. There had been talk of scaling back the approved range, known as ETOPS, which would have limited the use of the fuel-efficient jet. Boeing Chief Executive Jim McNerney said the 787's promised benefits "remain fully intact" and reaction in the industry was joyous.
Flying again in days?
“We're back in business, baby!” tweeted the Washington Aerospace Partnership, a group of business, labor and local government leaders supportive of Boeing.
“This is a good step forward,” United Airlines said in a statement. United is the only US carrier with 787s and plans to add them to its schedule starting May 31. Plans to launch service from Denver to Tokyo Narita are set for June 10, but depend on completing the modifications by then, it added.
In theory, the planes could be carrying passengers again within a week. Boeing said it takes five days to refit each jet and that no regulatory barrier prevents airlines from putting planes into service after the work is finished. In practice, however, airlines typically perform “check flights” before carrying passengers, Mike Sinnett, chief 787 programme engineer, told a news conference yesterday.
With 10 teams already in place around the world and yesterday’s approval to begin work, installation could move quickly and then “it’s up to the airlines” when they begin using the plane, Sinnett said. The FAA said it will issue an “airworthiness directive” next week that formally lifts the US ban on passenger flights.
Nearly half of the planes in service are owned by Japanese carriers All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines. Japan’s Civil Aviation Bureau (CAB), the counterpart of the FAA, gave a nod to the FAA’s approval.
“We are closely working with the FAA and are analysing and assessing the 787 improvement measures, and we do not see any problems,” Shigeru Takano, an official at the CAB, said.
The next step for Japan would be to revise its version of the airworthiness directive, known as a “technical circular directive” Takano said that could come on or after April 25.
“We want to make the final decision on flight resumption based on the FAA’s airworthiness directive revision as well as checking the results of a US National Transportation Safety Board-hosted hearing set to take place on April 23 and 24,” he said.