Boeing 787 Dreamliner set for return to service

An Ethiopian Airlines 787 Dreamliner is due to take off from Addis Ababa on Saturday morning, the first commercial flight by the Boeing aircraft since all 787s were grounded in January.

The 50 planes around the world were grounded due to battery malfunctions that saw one 787 catch fire in the US.
Over the past week teams of Boeing engineers have been fitting new batteries to the aircraft.

This was after aviation authorities approved the revamped battery design.
The Ethiopian Airlines flight is travelling to Nairobi in Kenya.

Each 787 has two of the lithium-ion batteries in question.
In addition to new versions of the batteries which run at a much cooler temperature, the batteries are now enclosed in stainless steel boxes.

These boxes have a ventilation pipe that directly goes to the outside of the plane. Boeing says this means than in the unlikely event of any future fire or smoke, it would not affect the rest of the aircraft.
Boeing said it put 200,000 engineer hours into fixing the problem, with staff working round the clock.