Japanese airline starts battery repair work of Boeing 787

Repair work to replace battery equipment damaged on an All Nippon Airways (ANA) Boeing 787 that made an emergency landing earlier this year began at Takamatsu Airport in the western Japanese prefecture of Kagawa on Thursday, airline officials said.

This came after approval by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Japanese aviation authority, officials said.

Major Japanese airline ANA started to carry out the repairs to install a new battery set and system on the 787 sitting at the airport since the January incident, according to an announcement from the airline.

An ANA spokesperson said the fix is in accordance with Boeing' s measures to prevent future battery failures and avoid overheating the lithium-ion batteries that power the 787's auxiliary power system, adding that the airline's team of mechanics expects their work to continue until the weekend.

After the team completes the work at Takamatsu, ANA is planning to carry out a nighttime test flight of the passenger airplane on May 16. The carrier expects to resume commercial use of the aircraft in June at the earliest.