TOKYO--Japanese transport minister Akihiro Ota said Tuesday the
ministry will lift the grounding of troubled Boeing 787 jets as
early as this week, after U.S. aviation regulators approved
Boeing's new battery system for the airplane last Friday, Kyodo
News reported.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism will
officially announce the lifting after two days of public hearings
by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board starting
Tuesday.
All Nippon Airways Co. and Japan Airlines Co. are expected to
resume commercial flights as early as in June after completing
modifications to their 787 fleets.
The Federal Aviation Administration has approved Boeing's design
for modifications to the plane's battery system and is expected to
allow U.S. carriers to resume 787 operations within this week.
At the NTSB's public hearings, engineers of Boeing, GS Yuasa
Corp, the maker of lithium-ion batteries for the 787, and French
military aircraft builder SA, which built the plane's electrical
system, are expected to testify.
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