Heathrow shut after Boeing Dreamliner 787 fire

No passengers were on board at the time of the fire

Runways at London's Heathrow airport have closed after a fire on a parked Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner jet.

Arrivals and departures were suspended after the incident at 16:30 BST, a spokesman for the airport said. No passengers were aboard at the time.
Fifty Dreamliners worldwide were grounded in January because of battery malfunctions.
Boeing later modified the jets with new batteries and flights resumed in April.
An Ethiopian Airlines Dreamliner named the Queen of Sheba - the same plane involved in the Heathrow incident - flew from Addis Ababa to Nairobi on the first commercial flight since the grounding.
Pictures of the Heathrow fire on Twitter show an aircraft close to a building and surrounded by fire vehicles. London Fire Brigade said its crews were standing by to assist Heathrow staff.
Fire-retardant foam appeared to have been sprayed at the airliner, but no damage to the aircraft was immediately apparent.
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A Heathrow spokesman said: "We can confirm there has been an on-board internal fire involving an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft and the airport's emergency services are in attendance.
"The aircraft was parked on a remote parking stand. There were no passengers on board and there are no reported injuries at this time.

"Arrivals and departures are temporarily suspended while airport fire crews attend to this incident. This is a standard procedure if fire crews are occupied with an incident."

The airport is advising passengers to check the status of their flights with the airlines.
The Metropolitan Police said: "Police at Heathrow were alerted to a fire on a plane. Emergency services are in attendance.
"At this time it is believed no one was on board and there are no reports of any injuries. The fire is being treated as unexplained."
The Dreamliner's battery problems followed production difficulties for the aircraft, marketed as a quiet, fuel-efficient aircraft carrying between 201 and 290 passengers on medium-range routes.
It was due to enter passenger service in 2008 but it was not until October 2011 that the first commercial flight was operated by Japan's All Nippon Airways.
British Airways is due to take delivery of the first two of its 24 Dreamliners, and Virgin Atlantic is to get the first of its 16 Dreamliners in September 2014.

A Boeing spokesman 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."

Brake fault forces 787 into emergency landing

By Phil Davies 

A United Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner was forced to make an emergency landing due to a problem with its brake system.

United said that the unscheduled landing occurred on a US domestic flight yesterday.

"United flight 94 from Houston to Denver returned to Houston Sunday due to a brake indicator issue," the airline said.

"Following standard operating procedures, as a precautionary measure, the flight landed in emergency status.

"The aircraft landed safely at 11.58am and our maintenance team is conducting a review of the aircraft."

A Boeing spokeswoman said the problem with the braking system forced the plane "back to base," without giving details of the malfunction or how long it might take to repair it, Sky News reported.

United said a Dreamliner on its way to Tokyo from Denver was forced to land in Seattle last week as a precaution.

The incidents came as Thomson Airways became the first UK airline to introduce the new generation aircraft into service.

Dreamliner completes first flight since grounding

By Phil Davies 

The first Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight has been successfully completed since the aircraft was grounded in January.

The Ethiopian Airlines 787 flew passengers from Addis Ababa to Nairobi after aviation authorities approved a revamped battery design.

Japanese airlines, which have been the biggest customers for the new-generation aircraft, were due to begin test flights yesterday.

Boeing is expected to complete repairs on all 50 of the grounded Dreamliners by the middle of May.

UK launch customer Thomson Airways is expected to receive the first of its delayed 787s in June followed by British Airways.

Dreamliner grounding poised to be lifted

By Phil Davies 

A three-month grounding of Boeing 787 Dreamliners could begin to be lifted as early as today.

The US Federal Aviation Administration is tipped to announce Boeing has demonstrated that the 787's redesigned batteries are safe.

Regulators have been convinced that various internal enhancements and a new protective metal container will prevent fires and automatically suck smoke or toxic fumes out of the aircraft, theWall Street Journal reported.

Foreign regulators are expected to follow the FAA's lead. That means many of the fuel-efficient 787s could resume carrying passengers as early as May.

FAA chief Michael Huerta and transportation secretary Ray LaHood are poised to give the green light for Boeing to help airlines retrofit more than 50 Dreamliners.

The 787s were grounded globally in January after lithium-ion batteries burned on a pair of aircraft in little more than a week.

The fixes are expected to take less than a handful of days, but other aircraft testing and refresher training for pilots could stretch into additional weeks.

After the expected announcement, Boeing will issue a service bulletin instructing airlines how to revamp the battery systems, and the FAA will issue a formal safety directive mandating the changes.

Branson pins profit hopes on Dreamliner

By Robin Searle

Delivery of Boeing’s troubled 787 aircraft will be crucial to Virgin Atlantic’s aim of returning to profitability by 2015, according to the airline’s president Sir Richard Branson.

Speaking to Travel Weekly during the inaugural celebrations for Virgin’s domestic offshoot Little Red in Edinburgh, Branson said he felt the target was viable and dependent on the integration of more cost-effective aircraft.

“As long as the 787s don’t get delayed again, there is every chance that it can be possible,” he said.

Virgin is due to take delivery of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner in late summer 2014 as part of a wider fleet overhaul. It also hopes to boost revenue with the launch of Little Red services from Heathrow to Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Manchester and through an expected tie-up with Delta Air Lines in the US.

Virgin’s new chief executive Craig Kreeger believes the airline can transform a loss, expected to be about £130 million for the financial year to February 2013, into a profit within two years.

“(To return to profit) our strategy includes trying to find new sources of revenue, and that includes creating connectivity through Little Red and through the relationship with Delta,” said Kreeger.

“We have made some tough decisions, including a pay freeze for staff, but we have to ensure that no decisions are made at the expense of the customer or our people.”

The two airlines filed an application with the US Department of Transportation seeking antitrust immunity for their joint venture this week.

Speaking about the appointment of former American Airlines executive Kreeger, Branson said: “Craig has a lot of experience in the States, and through the Delta deal the States is going to play a bigger and bigger role in Virgin Atlantic’s future.”

Boeing says Dreamliner test flight 'went to plan'

Boeing has said a flight to test the new batteries on the Dreamliner "went to plan".

All 50 Dreamliners in operation have been grounded and orders delayed following a fire in a battery on a Japan Airlines 787 in Boston on January 7 and an emergency landing by an All Nippon Airways aircraft in Japan shortly afterwards when a battery started producing smoke.

A 787 took off at 12:11pm Pacific Time from the airfield at Boeing’s main production plant in Everett, Washington, for the “functional test flight” and returned two hours later.

The aircraft was the first to be fitted with lithium-ion batteries designed to reduce the risk of overheating.

Boeing said it would assess the data and prepare for another test flight to reassure regulators.

The battery redesign plan was approved by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) earlier this month.

US transportation secretary Ray LaHood said at the time: "This comprehensive series of tests will show us whether the proposed battery improvements will work as designed.”

But he added: "We won't allow the plane to return to service unless we're satisfied that the new design ensures the safety of the aircraft and its passengers."

FAA approves Boeing plan to fix Dreamliner battery

By Kate Rice

The Federal Aviation Administration has approved Boeing's certification plan for the redesign of the 787 Dreamliner.

The certification plan is the first step toward returning the 787 to service, and will require extensive testing and analysis.

"This comprehensive series of tests will show us whether the proposed battery improvements will work as designed," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Boeing and battery maker clash over 787 fix

By Phil Davies

Boeing and the Japanese company that makes lithium-ion batteries for 787 Dreamliner disagree about what should be included in a package of measures aimed at returning the aircraft to service.

Battery maker GS Yuasa Corporation believes the fix for the battery should include a voltage regulator that could stop electricity from entering the battery, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing government and industry officials.

Boeing proposed its fix to the US Federal Aviation Authority on Friday.

But on Thursday, Yuasa told the agency that its laboratory tests indicated a power surge outside the battery, or other external problem, started the failures on two batteries, according to the newspaper.

The FAA confirmed the meeting with Yuasa, but did not give any details. A Yuasa spokesman declined to comment.

A Boeing spokesman said that the investigation has not showed that overcharging was a factor and that the 787 had quadruple-redundant protection against overcharging in any case.

"Our proposal includes multiple layers of protection covering the known potential probable causes of the events," he said.

He added that Boeing was co-ordinating with key suppliers.

Boeing suggests solution to Dreamliner battery problem

Boeing suggests solution to Dreamliner battery

problem

By Phil Davies  

Boeing has presented measures it hopes will get the Dreamliner back in the air to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The aircraft manufacturer proposed ways to fix the 787’s battery problems which have led to its grounding at a meeting with the FAA on Friday.

Boeing is reported to believe the measures could have the aircraft flying by late March or April.

However, the cause of overheating in a lithium-ion battery on a Japan Airlines 787 has yet to be identified.

The 50 Dreamliners in service around the world have been grounded since January 16 after a battery fire on the Japan Airlines 787 parked at Boston and an emergency landing by an All Nippon Airways aircraft in Japan.

Investigators believe a short circuit in one of the battery cells caused overheating that led to the fire which then spread through the battery.

Boeing has proposed insulating the battery’s lithium-ion cells from one another to prevent fire spreading, encasing the battery in a fire-proof shell and installing sensors.

It also proposes a venting mechanism to remove fumes which led to the emergency landing.

Japanese investigators have identified the likely cause of the fumes which led to the emergency landing, reporting they found faulty wiring on the battery of the All Nippon Airways 787.

The aircraft’s auxiliary power unit was incorrectly connected to the main battery. However, the root cause of the battery fire in Boston has not been found.

Japanese transport minister Akihiro Ohta said: “It’s too early to say we are over the hump.”

Aviation analyst Douglas McNeill told the BBC: “Until it’s crystal clear what went wrong the FAA will be reluctant to let the 787s resume [flying].”

US transport secretary Ray LaHood has warned the 787 will not fly again until the FAA is “1,000% sure” the batteries are safe.

Meanwhile, All Nippon Airways is cancelling all Boeing 787 Dreamliner flights until at least the end of May.

More than 1,700 flights in April and May are affected, a period that includes Japan's Golden Week holiday. This takes the total number of affected ANA Dreamliner flights to 3,600.

An ANA spokeswoman told the BBC: "Unfortunately, it includes Golden Week, but we have decided to inform our customers in advance as the prospect for their resumption is still unseen."

ANA is Boeing's biggest Dreamliner customer, with 17 of the world's 50 operational 787s.all of which have been grounded. International regulators grounded all Dreamliners last month in so that safety checks could be carried out on their lithium ion batteries.

Airbus opts for 'Plan B' for A350 after 787 battery problem

By Phil Davies

Airbus will not use lithium-ion batteries in its forthcoming A350 aircraft because of problems that have grounded rival Boeing's 787 Dreamliner.

The European manufacturer is to use traditional nickel-cadmium batteries instead, as already used in the A380 superjumbo and other models.

Investigations are continuing after battery problems came to light on 787s operated by Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways which left 50 Dreamliners grounded around the world.

Airbus said it was "confident" that the lithium-ion battery it had been developing with French battery-maker Saft was "robust and safe".

It added that A350 test flights would continue with the lithium batteries.

"However, to date, the root causes of the two recent industry Li-ion main batteries incidents remain unexplained to the best of our knowledge," Airbus said.

"In this context, and with a view to ensuring the highest level of programme certainty, Airbus has decided to activate its Plan B and therefore to revert back to the proven and mastered nickel-cadmium main batteries for its A350 XWB programme at entry into service.

"Airbus considers this to be the most appropriate way forward in the interest of programme execution and A350 XWB reliability."

The firm said it did not expect any further delays to the launch of the A350, intended as a rival to the 787. The maiden flight is due to take place later this year, with the first passenger flight expected in the second half of 2014, the BBC reported.