All Things Travel: 787 Dreamliner Service Returns To Logan June 1
BOSTON (CBS) – The Boeing 787 Dreamliner will resume daily service between Boston and Tokyo again on June 1.
The Japan Airlines jet has been sitting on the tarmac at Logan Airport since a January 4 battery fire while the aircraft was parked at a gate in Terminal E.
The entire fleet was grounded worldwide and a new battery system is being installed in all of the 787 aircraft.
Boeing has 10 teams of 30 engineers each making the changes. About 50 Dreamliners had been in service, about half of which have been operated by JAL and All Nippon Airways.
No probable cause of the battery problems has been officially found to date.
Both the FAA and Japanese aviation officials have given clearance for the 787 to resume service.
The June 1 start-up coincides with the end of the spring business travel season and the start of the summer and fall leisure travel period which is very important for Japanese tourists who wish to visit Boston and New England.
The first anniversary of the JAL flight took place on April 22. The airline has been using a larger Boeing 777 on the route five times a week since the Dreamliner was taken out of service.
Both Japanese and Boston tourist officials have said that passenger loads on the plane have been satisfactory in the past year.
United will be the first U.S. airline to put a Dreamliner into service. That's expected to be in June.
Bob Weiss reports on business travel on Mondays at 5:55 a.m. on WBZ NewsRadio 1030.
