Boeing Tries to Breathe New Life Into Dreamliner: Report
Boeing may carry out a certification test flight of its grounded 787 Dreamliner with a revamped battery system on Friday, a key step toward returning the state-of-the-art aircraft to flight, a U.S. government official said on Thursday.
The official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said the certification test could be carried out on Friday if all remaining ground-based tests were completed on Thursday.
"They're not quite there yet," said the official, adding that it might not be clear until early Friday if the certification flight could take place.
"As a matter of long-standing policy Boeing does not provide advance notice of flight test activities until we have filed flight test plans," Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel told Reuters when asked about a possible test flight on Friday.
All 50 787s in service worldwide were grounded in January after problems with the airplane's lithium-ion batteries on two separate aircraft.
