The first airline to fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner into Heathrow has resumed services from the London hub after a worldwide grounding of the aircraft in January.
The return of the 787 into service by Qatar Airways on the London-Doha route means the carrier remains the only airline in the world to operate scheduled Dreamliner flights to and from the UK.
The carrier originally started the 254-seat Dreamliner service from Heathrow in December as one of its five daily flights between the UK and Qatar.
But flights were suspended after battery problems were discovered on 787s operated by Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways.
With the battery issues resolved, the first of the airline’s five 787s returned to service on the Doha–Dubai route on May 1.
The airline will be gradually phasing in 787 flights over the next few weeks on long-haul routes such as Munich, Frankfurt and Zurich.
Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker said: “I have always hailed the Dreamliner as the state-of-the-art aircraft destined to change the way people travel.
“After a setback that not only affected our own worldwide operations, but those of many carriers worldwide, we look forward to now deploying the Dreamliner on other key routes over the coming weeks.”
UK country manager Richard Oliver said yesterday: “With our Heathrow operations going back up to five flights a day following today’s re-introduction of the Dreamliner on the London route, we fly to our Doha hub and offer passengers a raft of excellent connections to cities across the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia.”