Boeing 787 Dreamliner fire shuts Heathrow

LONDON'S Heathrow airport suspended both of its runways on Friday after a parked Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner caught fire, but no casualties were reported.

"Both runways have been suspended after a fire onboard an Ethiopian Airlines plane," a spokeswoman for the west London airport told AFP.

"Emergency services are currently dealing with the incident. No one was on board so there were no casualties."

Television images showed the Dreamliner surrounded by pools of foam, with three fire engines on the scene.

Boeing temporarily withdrew its troubled next-generation jet from service earlier this year for modifications after concerns that batteries on board could cause fires.

The global grounding order was issued in January after lithium-ion batteries overheated on two different jets, with one of them catching fire while the aircraft was parked.

Boeing has not been able to identify the root cause of the problems, but rolled out modifications it said would ensure they were safe.

In April, an Ethiopian Airlines Dreamliner -- reported to be the same plane that caught fire at Heathrow -- flew from Addis Ababa to Nairobi on the first commercial flight since the grounding.

Heathrow is London's main airport and one of the busiest passenger hubs in the world.