All Boeing 787 Airlines Have Aircraft Back in Service

LN86 owned by LOT Polish Airlines performed many of the flight tests while the 787 was grounded around the world.

LN86 owned by LOT Polish Airlines performed many of the flight tests while the 787 was grounded around the world.

On January 16th of this year all 50 of the delivered Boeing 787 Dreamliners was grounded by the FAA and other regulators due to a couple of battery fires that occurred within days of each other.  After much drama, and a ridiculous amount of work by engineers from Boeing and their partners, all of the Dreamliners have been retrofitted with the necessary repairs, and all of the airlines have officially put them back in service.

Just to give you an idea of what’s going on, below you will find a list of the airlines currently operating the 787 and when they went back into service.

Ethiopian Airlines

Number of 787s delivered: 4 (6 more on order)

Returned to service: April 27

Ethiopian was the first airline to put the 787 back into service after a little more than three months.

 

Qatar Airways provides the only 787 service to England currently.

Qatar Airways provides the only 787 service to England currently.

Qatar Airways

Number of 787s delivered: 5 (25 more on order)

Returned to service: May 16

Qatar Airways was the first, and currently the only, carrier to offer service on the 787 to England, but with Thomson Air receiving their first 787 over the weekend, and British Airways having their first three come off the line recently, it will have some competition soon in England.

Air India

Number of 787s delivered: 6 (21 more on order)

Returned to service: May 15

Air India resumed domestic service May 15 and followed that up with international service on May 22.

United Airlines

Number of 787s delivered: 6 ( 44 more on order)

Returned to service: May 20

United is the first US based carrier to take delivery of the 787.  Airchive.com wrote a great piece about the United return to service including lots of good background information and tons of pictures.

All Nippon Airways (ANA)

Number of 787s delivered: 19 (47 more on order)

Returned to service: June 1

ANA was the launch customer for the 787, currently has the most delivered, and also has the most on order.  They obviously have a lot on the line with the 787 and are probably more happy than anyone to have them back in the air.  You can find the full description of where and when they will be back in service on their website.

LAN Airlines

Number of 787s delivered: 3 (23 more on order)

Returned to service: June 1

LAN was the only airline that I couldn’t find a specific release saying they had returned to service, but they did finish certification on May 15, and announced they would resume on June 1 so I see no reason why it would not have happened.

 

The first JAL 787 to resume service from San Diego departs to the waves of its ground crew.  Photo by Howard Lipin / U-T San Diego

The first JAL 787 to resume service from San Diego departs to the waves of its ground crew. Photo by Howard Lipin / U-T San Diego

Japan Airlines (JAL)

Number of 787s delivered: 8 (37 more on order)

Returned to service: June 1

JAL was one of four airlines to resume service June 1.  However, they experienced some sort of issue with an air pressure sensor in the battery area the very next day.  It appears to be a minor problem that will be easily fixed.  Let’s hope for Boeing’s sake that it is just a small issue with no real repercussions.

LOT Polish Airlines

Number of 787s delivered: 3 (5 more on order)

Returned to service: June 1

LOT resumed service with their flight between Warsaw and JFK.  They also just took delivery of their third 787, LN 86 which was one of the aircraft that did a ton of work getting the 787 fix certified as well as numerous other tests while the 787 was grounded.

It is great to see all of these airlines back in service, as well as two new airlines that received their first 787s this last week.  Thomson Airlines actually took delivery of their first two 787s which are set to start service July 8, and China Southern Airlines received their first 787 that they plan to put into service June 6.