787 Certified to Fly Again in Japan

Authorities in Japan declared the Boeing 787 "Dreamliner" is "fit for use" on Friday — once repairs to faulty batteries are made — allowing the aircraft's biggest users to resume flying the planes again after the jets were grounded in January.

The New York Times reports that ANA All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines — which reportedly own about half of the 50 Dreamliners delivered so far — may resume flights after getting the go-ahead from the Japanese Ministry of Transport. The ministry asked All Nippon and Japan Airlines, however, to first adopt additional safety measures, including adding monitors to the batteries to read voltage levels in real time, before the planes are brought back to service, according to the report.

Boeing’s new battery plans are intended to improve safety systems that protect the 787’s lithium-ion batteries and minimize the chances of their emitting smoke or catching fire, after two units overheated on separate planes in January.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Thursday published a new rule that formally lifted the grounding of the 787s operated by carriers based in the United States once modified lithium-ion batteries were installed.

Last week, the FAA had given a green light to Boeing to start modifying the batteries on the 787s. In its rule, known as an airworthiness directive, the F.A.A. gave its first estimate of the cost of the repairs — $464,763 per plane — though the agency said that could be covered by the plane’s warranty and, therefore, paid by Boeing, according to the New York Times.