United Airlines Confirms Upcoming Flight of Grounded Boeing 787 Dreamliner

In a recently issued statement, United Airlines declared that its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet will soon fly again. On Monday, the carrier has officially announced its intention of putting the Dreamliner back on despite its current status. The airline is anticipating an approval of the remedies that Boeing has put in place to solve lithium-ion battery issues that caused the grounding of the jetliner.

The 787 is the newest in Boeing’s impressive line-up of service aircraft. Other than United Airlines there is no other airline in the United States that uses the Boeing 787. United owns six Dreamliners. Boeing has extensively promoted the fuel-efficient wide-body twin engine jet aircraft. It is the most advanced jet of its class today. Fifty Dreamliners were on routes all throughout the world when the fleet was grounded. More of this state-of-the-art airplane is in the production line.

Grounded fleet

The Boeing 787 needed to be modified after its battery smoldered in two events in January of this year. The incidents occurred in Japan and Boston and investigations are currently underway. On January 7, a small fire happened at the battery’s front part while on the Logan airport tarmac in Boston. On January 16 in Japan, smoke alarms were triggered by a battery during flight. The definitive causes the led to each incident are still to be determined, but the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) is hypothesizing that the battery’s eight cells may have experienced a short circuit.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes had to come up with a new design for the battery which will be tested and approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Boeing has not yet publicized the measures undertaken to fix the problems that caused fire and smoke in the two aforementioned incidents. Ray LaHood, The Secretary of Transportation has confirmed that the Dreamliner would not be allowed up in the air until the redesign passes safety standards.

Target dates

May 31 is United’s target date for the Boeing 787 again to be taken up in the sky earlier than initial expectations. The original schedule has been set on June 5. The first flight of the Dreamliner after its grounding is scheduled to be from Denver International Airport to Houston. Flights from Denver to Narita in Tokyo, Japan are expected to resume on June 10, at the earliest.

United Airlines is planning to fly both international and domestic routes using the Boeing 787. It is ready to make the necessary modifications as the certification schedule is verified. It expects to make changes to the flight schedule when necessary. It is rumored that other carriers using the Dreamliner will soon do the same in the weeks to come.

Awaiting approval

As of this writing the company has completed a second test flight for the new battery system. Data from the test flights will be forwarded to the FAA. Airlines will soon send repair kits to carriers once the Federal Aviation Administration gives its stamp of approval. United Airlines is very optimistic that the Dreamliner will have no trouble getting clearance from the FAA.