A 787 Dreamliner caught fire at London’s Heathrow airport while a “technical issue” forced a second to return to a different British airport, in the latest calamities for Boeing’s troubled jet.
The fire on the parked Ethiopian Airlines plane forced Heathrow to shut down for 90 minutes but caused no injuries.
A Boeing spokesman said the US firm had personnel on the ground at Heathrow and was “working to fully understand and address this.”
In a separate incident, engineers were inspecting a Florida-bound Thomson Airways Dreamliner which had to return to Manchester Airport in northwest England after take-off.
A Heathrow spokeswoman said the Ethiopian Airlines plane was empty when the blaze was reported at around 1530 GMT.
Television images showed the Dreamliner surrounded by pools of foam, with three fire engines on the scene.
“Emergency services are currently dealing with the incident,” the Heathrow spokeswoman told AFP. “No one was on board so there were no casualties.”
Dreamliner fire alert at Heathrow
