All Nippon Airways Co. and Japan Airlines Co. on Monday began modifying their grounded Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets due to battery-related incidents, exchanging their batteries with modified ones, the Japanese airliners said.
ANA began exchanging batteries of five jets grounded at Narita, Haneda, Okayama and Matsuyama airports, while JAL started the installations on its jets at Narita and Haneda airports. ANA has 17 Dreamliners in its fleet, while JAL has seven.
According to ANA, it will take about five days per jet to complete the modification and about a month to complete the procedure for all of its 17 Dreamliners. It expects to resume operations of its fleets and start flying passengers in June after several weeks of test flights.
The move comes after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's announcement Friday that it had approved Boeing's design for modifications to the battery system of the 787 jet.
The Japanese airliners became able to modify the jet's battery system after they received manuals for the modification procedures from Boeing on Sunday, they said.
A total of 50 Dreamliners worldwide have been grounded after one of them operated by ANA made an emergency landing on Jan. 16 at an airport in western Japan due to smoke in the cockpit. JAL and ANA together operate almost half the 50 787s delivered around the world.
Copyright 2013 Kyodo News ServiceAll Rights Reserved
