adminfor three months because of overheating batteries.
Boeing shares tumbled by 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 fire-fighters at Heathrow. At 1745 GMT, shares were down 3.2 percent at US$103,50. Heathrow briefly closed both its runways to deal with the fire which broke out while the aircraft was parked at a remote stand. There were no passengers aboard the plane. 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 fires on the Dreamliner.
“A Boeing 787 Dreamliner suffered an on board internal fire,” a Heathrow spokeswoman said.
“The plane is now parked at a remote parking stand several hundred meters away from any passenger terminals.”
Former US National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Mark Rosenker said the Heathrow incident was extraordinary news, coming so soon after the fleet had returned to service, but he cautioned against jumping to conclusions.
“It’s very early. No one knows where the fire started at this point,” Rosenker told Reuters, adding it could be something as simple as a coffee pot left on in a galley.
Boeing said it was aware of the fire and that had people on the ground working to understand the causes of it. The US Federal Aviation Administration said it was aware of the fire and was in contact with Boeing.
“This is terrible for the Dreamliner, any event involving fire and that airplane is going to be a PR disaster for Boeing,” Christine Negroni, an aviation writer and safety specialist based in New York, said in a telephone interview. Because of the battery issue, the public is even more sensitive to events that happen to the Dreamliner.
Even if they are normal, benign teething problems, that subtlety is going to be lost on the public,” she said. —Reuters.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter