The Japan government is poised to allow Japanese airlines
to resume flying grounded Boeing 787s once they complete installation of
systems to reduce fire risk in problematic lithium ion batteries, Akihiro Ohta,
Transport Minister said today.
The approval could
come as early as this evening following an expected formal safety order from
the US federal regulators, he said in a statement on the ministry’s website.
The 50 Dreamliner
jets in service worldwide were grounded in mid-January after incidents with
smouldering batteries occurred aboard two different planes.
The groundings
have led to hundreds of cancelled flights and big revenue losses.
The US Federal
Aviation Administration posted a safety order online yesterday allowing 787
flights to resume once the batteries are replaced with a revamped system that
manufacturer Boeing Co. says sharply reduces the risk of fire.
Japan’s two
biggest airlines began installing revamped lithium ion batteries over the past
week. All Nippon Airways owns 17 of the jets and Japan Airlines has seven.
They declined to
comment on when their 787 flights might resume
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