An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 jet caught fire while parked at a London Heathrow Airport remote parking stand today causing runways to close

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

There is no immediate word what caused the fire

Fifty Dreamliners worldwide were grounded in January because of battery malfunctions

We will update this story as we find out more

A report by British aviation regulators on Thursday recommended that the Boeing Dreamliner's lithium-powered emergency locator beacons should be deactivated and undergo a safety review after a fire in London last week

The proposal shoud not lead to an immediate second grounding of the jet, according to a European regulatory source

Although regulations in Europe and several other jurisdictions require a working Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) on commercial flights with more than 19 passengers, the 787 can continue to fly while the precautionary measure to unplug the devices from their battery is in place, he said

In Washington, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration had no immediate comment

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today released the following statement on Boeing 787 ELTs

After reviewing the initial findings of the AAIB’s report and recommendations, the Federal Aviation Administration is working with Boeing to develop instructions to operators for inspection of the Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs) on Boeing 787 aircraft

These inspections would ask operators to inspect for proper wire routing and any signs of wire damage or pinching, as well as inspect the battery compartment for unusual signs of heating or moisture

The FAA is preparing to issue an Airworthiness Directive in the coming days that would make these inspections mandatory. Federal Aviation Regulations do not require large commercial aircraft in scheduled service to be equipped with these devices

Over the weekend, the FAA will be communicating its intentions to aviation safety regulators in other countries

As an active participant in the AAIB’s investigation, we continue to work closely with the AAIB, along with Boeing and Honeywell, as the investigation continues into the cause of the recent fire aboard a 787 jetliner while parked on the ground in London