United Airlines to fly Dreamliner on May 31

CHICAGO, April 8 (Xinhua) -- United Airlines said Monday it plans to fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner for the first time on May 31 after its grounding.

According to local media Chicago Tribune, the first United customers to fly on the plane will be those traveling from Denver to Houston, an airline spokeswoman said. It plans to get the jet back into service with U.S. routes at first. United has six of the jets.

The airline's first trip overseas with the jet is currently scheduled on June 10 on its Denver-Narita (Japan) route.

United said it will made additional schedule changes as "we gain visibility into the timeline for certification and modification work."

The Boeing 787, which has been grounded since January, made its second and final flight test last week.

On April 5, Chicago-based Boeing Co. conducted the second test flight of its grounded 787 Dreamliner, a step toward returning to commercial service the highly touted plane with overheating battery problems.

All 50 Boeing 787s in service worldwide were grounded in January after the airplane's lithium-ion batteries overheated on two aircraft, one on the ground in U.S. city of Boston and a second during a flight in Japan.

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