Japan’s ANA to resume Boeing 787 flights on Sunday

In this Sunday, April 28, 2013 file photo, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner of the All Nippon Airways prepares to land after a test flight at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo. United Airlines is getting its 787s back in the air. The planes are returning after being grounded for four months by the federal government because of smoldering batteries on 787s owned by other airlines. The incidents included an emergency landing of one plane, and a fire on another. The incidents never caused any serious injuries. But the January grounding embarrassed Boeing, which makes the 787, and disrupted schedules at the eight airlines that were flying the planes. United’s first 787 flight was scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday, May 20, 2013 from Houston to Chicago. AP File Photo

TOKYO—Japan’s All Nippon Airways, the launch customer for Boeing’s 787 “Dreamliner,” will resume commercial flights of the aircraft on Sunday, just over four months after the jets were grounded due to smoldering batteries.

ANA said in a statement that it will run five commercial 787 flights in May, before regular, scheduled services begin on June 1. The first will be a commercial flight late Sunday from Chitose, on the northern island of Hokkaido, to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.

Smoldering batteries on two 787s, one of them owned by ANA, prompted authorities to ground the planes in January. The failure of Boeing’s newest, flashiest and most important plane embarrassed the company and its customers.

ANA said it has modified all 17 of its 787 aircraft and conducted 170 proving flights.