Apology and Correction - Ethiopian IS Flying 787 Again

Readers, an apology is in order. Jon Ostrower of the Wall Street Journal informs me that Ethiopian Airlines is flying the Boeing 787 Dreamliner on its Addis Ababa to Frankfurt route and my earlier post suggesting that the headline making Saturday re-inaugural flight of the troubled twin jet was a one-off is incorrect. 

Earlier in the day I was told by Ethiopian reservations agent that the 787 was not flying which I took as an acknowledgement by the airline that before it put the plane and its brand new fire and smoke containing battery box back on the line, it would do a little more flight testing.

That's what All Nippon Airways is doing. But it would seem that Ethiopian feels more confident in Boeing's assurances that all is well with the lithium ion batteries now that the insulation has been beefed up, the charging toned down and the box installed.

My thanks to Jon, an extraordinary aviation reporter and my apologies once again to my readers for leading you astray on this matter. 

Ethiopian's ET-AOP prepares for its post-grounding flight on April 27th
photo courtesy Boeing