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Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner catches fire at Britain’s Heathrow airport
Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner. IMAGE/Boeing
(Reuters) – A Boeing 787 Dreamliner operated by Ethiopian Airlines caught fire at Britain’s Heathrow airport on Friday in a fresh blow for the U.S. planemaker which earlier this year was forced to ground the new planes for three months because of overheating batteries.
Ethiopian Airlines said on Friday smoke was detected coming from its aircraft with registration number ET-AOP after it had been parked at Britain’s Heathrow airport for more than eight hours.
“The aircraft was empty when the incident was observed. The cause of the incident is under investigation by all concerned,” the airline said in a brief statement on its Boeing 787 Dreamliner that caught fire.
Boeing shares closed down 4.7 percent at US$101.87. Earlier in the session they tumbled as much as 7 percent, wiping US$5.4 billion off its market capitalization after television footage showed the Dreamliner surrounded by foam used by firefighters at Heathrow airport.
Heathrow briefly closed both its runways to deal with the fire which broke out while the aircraft was parked at a remote stand.
Television footage showed an area on the fuselage in front of the tail that appeared to be scorched.
It was not clear if the fire was related to the batteries, which were the cause of the previous incidents that led to the grounding of the Dreamliner in January. The Dreamliner’s two battery compartments are low down, according to public Boeing diagrams, while the visible damage to the Ethiopian plane appears to be higher up and further towards the rear, according to footage from the scene.
