Fire on Ethiopian Dreamliner shuts Heathrow runways for 90 minutes
All London Heathrow runways were closed for 90 minutes after the fire broke out aboard a parked Ethiopian Airways Dreamliner on Friday, diverting planes to Gatwick and prompting a Florida-bound Dreamliner to return to Manchester shortly after takeoff.
No passengers were aboard the Boeing 787 Dreamliner at the time, the airport said. Initial reports had the fire originating in an engines, but the engine maker General Electric denied the engines had anything to do with the fire.
Dreamliners around the world were grounded earlier this year in the wake of battery fires. It is unclear whether the fire is related to the batteries, reported the Associated Press.
Fifty Dreamliners worldwide were grounded in January after malfunctions with the plane's lithium-ion batteries. Boeing put in re-designed batteries, which run at cooler temperatures and enclosed in stainless steel boxes, and flights resumed in April.
On January 7, a battery overheated and started a fire on a Japan Airlines 787 at Boston's Logan International Airport. Nine days later, an All Nippon Airways 787 had to make an emergency landing in Japan after a battery started to smoke.
Ethiopian Airlines said smoke was detected from the aircraft after it had been parked at Heathrow for more than eight hours. Fire-retardant foam was sprayed at the airliner, and on top of the fuselage in front of the tail appeared to be scorched.
Meanwhile, Thomson Airways said one of its Dreamliners travelling to Florida returned to Manchester Airport as a precautionary measure. Thomson, the first British carrier to operate the aircraft, said the plane "experienced a technical issue".
Said British pilot union Balpa: "All parties in the industry need a full and transparent explanation as to what has been identified as the root causes in this series of events."
Boeing said: "We're aware of the event. We have Boeing personnel on the ground at Heathrow and are working to fully understand and address this."
The seat load factor for European services was 1.7 percentage points higher, while the intercontinental seat load factor was up 0.2 percentage points. (Source: Shipping Gazette)