Qatar Airways, a United Arab Emirates-based airline company, has announced that it will be resuming services to London Heathrow airport with its Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
The airline’s service on the London to Doha route is scheduled to recommence from the 15th of this month, after being halted since mid January as part of the worldwide grounding of the 787 Dreamliner, following incidents of the airplane’s on-board battery pack overheating. A solution for the problem has now been accepted by aviation authorities around the world, and with the lifting of the ban on flying, a number of airlines have already undertaken introductory flights. Qatar Airways’ initial flight took place earlier this week between Doha and Dubai.
A full resumption of the daily Doha to Dubai flights is expected, with the service only having operated for approximately one month from its inception in December last year, before being curtailed in January.
Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways chief executive, was one of a number of VIP’s that boarded the airlines reinstated Dreamliner for a flight earlier this week, and he said, ‘I’m thrilled our Dreamliner fleet is back in the skies. I always said I would be the first to fly on Qatar Airways’ 787 once it returned to service. After a setback that affected not only our own worldwide operations but also those of many carriers worldwide, we look forward now to deploying the Dreamliner on other key routes over the coming weeks. We have worked closely with Boeing throughout the grounding to work towards getting our fleet up and running again.
Safety has always been the number one priority and I have full confidence in the safety and security of this aircraft.’
