Boeing Co. asked the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration for approval to resume test flights with the 787 Dreamliner while the plane remains grounded during an investigation of battery faults.
The FAA is still considering that request, according to an agency official, who asked not to be identified because the details aren’t yet public. The planemaker would operate any such flights with existing test aircraft, Marc Birtel, a company spokesman, said Monday in a telephone interview.
“Boeing has submitted an application to conduct test flights and it is currently under evaluation by the FAA,” Birtel said in an e-mail. He wouldn’t say when or where Chicago- based Boeing might conduct any tests, or with how many planes.
Flying test planes would let Boeing study the Dreamliner’s lithium-ion power packs in operation while the 50 787s in service stay parked. The aircraft, Boeing’s most advanced model ever and the first jetliner built chiefly from composite materials, was ordered grounded on Jan. 16 after a battery fire on one jet and an emergency landing by another.
Boeing, which has its commercial hub in Seattle and also builds 787s in North Charleston, South Carolina, performed thousands of hours of tests on the six-jet development fleet before the plane’s 2011 commercial debut.
Safety officials outside the U.S. joined the FAA’s Jan. 16 order to airlines to park their Dreamliners following a fire in the lithium-ion power pack of a Japan Airlines Co. 787 in Boston and a battery warning on an All Nippon Airways Co. flight that forced an emergency landing.
Those directives marooned some 787s far from airlines’ bases. State-run Air India was allowed to fly Dreamliners to Mumbai for maintenance after its six 787s were scattered, with four in Delhi and one each in Chennai and Bangalore, Director General of Civil Aviation Arun Mishra said.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said federal regulators would wait until the battery probe is complete before allowing any test flights for Boeing production aircraft or so- called ferry flights to let airlines reposition any stranded Dreamliners.
“There’s a focus on the batteries and we’re going to continue to let the people doing the investigation finish their work,” LaHood told reporters before touring the Washington Auto Show.
FAA Administrator Michael Huerta met last week with investigators in Seattle, LaHood said.
Boeing rose 0.5 percent to $75.21 Monday at the close in New York. The shares have fallen 3.2 percent since Jan. 4, the last trading day before a Jan. 7 fire on the empty JAL Dreamliner in Boston began focusing attention on the plane’s batteries.
Days after the FAA announced a special review of the 787’s certification while declaring the plane safe, the All Nippon Airways 787 made an emergency landing when a battery smoldered and emitted fumes during a flight in Japan. That Jan. 16 incident spurred the FAA to order the grounding.
The Seattle Times reported Boeing’s request earlier Monday.
