Boeing stocks plunged nearly 5% after a fire and a "technical issue" on separate 787 Dreamliners in Britain stoked fresh safety concerns about the new high-tech jetliner.
Boeing stocks plunged nearly 5 percent after a fire and a "technical issue" on separate 787 Dreamliners in Britain stoked fresh safety concerns about the new high-tech jetliner.
Dow member Boeing's shares closed 4.7% lower at US$101.87 in New York Friday, clawing back from a dive of more than 7 percent.
Investor confidence was hammered after a Boeing 787 owned by Ethiopian Airlines caught fire while parked at London's Heathrow airport on Friday.
The fire forced Heathrow, the world's busiest international passenger air hub, to shut down for 90 minutes, but caused no injuries.
Television images showed the Dreamliner surrounded by pools of foam, with three fire engines on the scene.
A Boeing spokesman said the US firm had personnel on the ground at the airport west of London and was "working to fully understand and address this."
In a separate incident, a Florida-bound Boeing 787 owned by Thomson Airways had to return to Manchester Airport in northwest England after take-off.
Thomson said the flight was turned back as a precautionary measure because of a "technical issue."
The US Federal Aviation Administration said it was aware of the Heathrow fire. "We are in contact with Boeing as they assess the incident," a spokeswoman said.
The incidents were the latest in a series of problems with the cutting-edge Boeing 787, which entered service in September 2011 after three years of production delays.
A global grounding order on the Dreamliner 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 -- a source of major embarrassment to the aviation giant -- but said its modifications would prevent the problems reoccurring.
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.
But the next-generation jet has been dogged by problems, with a string of flights worldwide cancelled or diverted due to mechanical issues.
A United Airlines Dreamliner flight from London to Houston in Texas was cancelled on Tuesday due to an apparent problem with an indicator.
Japan's All Nippon Airways has begun compensation talks with Boeing over losses stemming from its troubled Dreamliner aircraft, according to a Nikkei business daily report last month.
The carrier told its annual shareholders' meeting that it lost about 12.5 billion yen ($128 million) in sales after the jet was grounded in January over a series of the battery glitches.