Ethiopian Jet Catches Fire At Heathrow, Second Returns To Manchester Airport

Boeing had a bad day Friday, with two of its signature Dreamliners having issues in the U.K.

An Ethiopian Airlines 787 reportedly caught fire while on the ramp at Heathrow airport, forcing officials to close both nearby runways. An image captured by BBC Sky News and posted online by the U.K. newspaper The Mail shows the Ethiopian Airlines jet near the terminal with fire-retardant foam all around the airplane. All of the Dreamliner’s right-side doors are open in the photo.

There were reportedly no passengers on board the Dreamliner when the fire broke out and there were no injuries, a Heathrow spokesman said. The cause of the fire aboard the Ethiopian airliner was not known.

The paper reports that less than an hour after the Heathrow incident, a Thomson Airways Dreamliner that departed just after noon local time from Manchester Airport was forced to return with unspecified mechanical difficulties. Thomson took delivery of its first 787 just days ago.

The airline confirmed that flight TOM126 from Manchester to Sanford, FL, "experienced a technical issue and returned to Manchester airport as a precautionary measure."

(Ethiopian Dreamliner pictured in file photo.)

FMI: www.boeing.com