Thursday, May 30, 2013

All 787 battery retro fits completed

Boeing has finished replacing the problematic lithium-ion batteries in its 787 Dreamliner jets, according to a report.

The 787s that had already been built had to be retrofitted with the new design of battery which involved spacing out battery parts and encasing them in stainless steel so little oxygen can get to them, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Randy Tinseth, Boeing’s vice president of marketing for commercial planes, revealed that the retrofits had been completed on a company blog post on Wednesday.

He wrote that most of the airlines -- including United -- have begun 787 commercial flights again.

"Six of our eight in-service customers have returned to passenger service, with the others following in just a matter of days," he wrote. "We can't thank all of them enough for their patience, partnership and support over the past several months."

All 787s were grounded after a battery fire broke out January 6 on a parked 787 operated by Japan Airlines at Boston's Logan Airport and a second battery incident occurred less than two weeks later on an All Nippon Airways flight in Japan.

The US Federal Aviation Administration then grounded the planes and foreign government aviation agencies followed suit.

(Reuters)

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