Test Flight Conducted Sunday Carrying Engineers, Boeing Officials

All Nippon Airways (ANA) has conducted its first flight with a Boeing Dreamliner since the fleet was grounded in January. The flight departed Tokyo's Haneda Airport Sunday morning with ANA engineers and as well as airline and Boeing officials including airline chairman Shinichiro Ito and Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Ray Conner on board.

CNN reports that the airline declared the two-hour test flight to be successful. In a statement, Boeing said that "(w)ith the successful completion of today's flight, Boeing will continue to work closely with airline customers in Japan and other countries on ... modification work to safely return additional 787s to flight in the coming weeks."

ANA had been the launch customer for the Dreamliner. The airline, along with Japan Airlines (JAL) began making modifications to their airplanes the day after the FAA posted an AD outlining the steps required to make the 787s airworthy again.

While Japan is still making modifications and testing, a Dreamliner operated by Ethiopian Airlines made a flight carrying passengers Saturday from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, Kenya.

(ANA Dreamliner image from file)

FMI: www.boeing.com