Japanese carrier Ana to resume Dreamliner flights in June, says airline chief

Japan's Ana Holdings, the biggest operator of Boeing 787s, aims to resume scheduled flights of the jet on June 1st, chief executive Shinichiro Ito has said.

Mr Ito, who flew on the airline’s initial test flight yesterday after completion of a fix to the battery system, said Tokyo-based Ana will not change plans for introducing the Dreamliner to its fleet. It expects to receive 10 more aircraft in the year to March and will assign the next delivery to expanding domestic routes.

Ana faces a challenge in luring back customers to an aircraft grounded after lithium-ion batteries on two aircraft overheated and melted.

"It's going to be difficult to get passengers to fly," said Ryota Himeno, an analyst at Barclays Securities Japan.

US air safety chiefs have not determined what caused the faults. – (Bloomberg)