Boeing Dreamliner to make special one-time flight

Washington: A Boeing 787 Dreamliner will fly for the first time in three weeks in a so-called ferry flight after the company won permission on Wednesday from US regulators.

In the special one-time flight, the plane - with no passengers and just the minimum crew needed to fly it - will travel today from Forth Worth, Texas, where it was being painted, back to Boeing's assembly plant in Everett in the northwestern state of Washington.

The 50-strong fleet of Boeing's newest plane was grounded January 16 because of repeated problems with its lithium-ion battery. One of them caught fire on an All Nippon Airways flight in Boston a week earlier.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said that before the ferry flight, the crew must carry out a number of inspections to be sure the batteries and cables show no signs of damage.

"The pre-flight checklist will include a mandatory check for specific status messages that could indicate possible battery problems," the FAA said.