Boeing 787 Dreamliner undergoing test flight

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Boeing Co said a test flight of its grounded 787 Dreamliner to collect more data on potential faults in the aircraft's lithium-ion batteries had taken off from Seattle and was scheduled to return late Saturday afternoon.

The 50 Dreamliners in commercial service were grounded worldwide on January 16, after a series of battery related incidents, including a fire on board a parked 787 in Boston's Logan International Airport and an in-flight problem on another plane in Japan.

The groundings have cost airlines tens of millions of dollars, with no solution yet in sight.

The test flight on ZA005, a Boeing 787 test plane, departed Boeing Field in Seattle at 12:32 p.m. Pacific time (3:32 p.m. ET/2032 GMT) and was scheduled to land at 2:59 PT (5:59 p.m. ET/2259 GMT), the company said.

A company spokesman declined to comment until the flight was completed.