UK Temporarily Bans Some Boeing 777s from Its Airspace After Denver Incident

Boeing 777s with the same engine as the one which caught fire after taking off from Denver will be temporarily banned from entering UK airspace.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced the move on Twitter after a United Airlines 777 using Pratt & Whitney 4000-112 engines bound for Hawaii was forced into an emergency landing.

Its right engine was seen engulfed in flames and debris plunged towards the ground shortly after take-off on Saturday.

All 231 passengers and 10 crew onboard, as well as those on the ground, were unhurt.

Shapps’s tweet, later echoed by one from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), mentioned two incidents.

One of those took place in the Netherlands on Saturday, when a plane’s engine caught fire shortly after take-off from Maastricht Airport and a woman was injured by falling debris.

However, the Department for Transport later clarified that this was a different type of Pratt & Whitney engine.

The Dutch Safety Board is investigating the latter incident.

The US plane-maker has already urged airlines to ground all 777s with the Pratt & Whitney 4000-112 engine, advising against using them until the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) finds an appropriate protocol for inspections.

The development represents a fresh blow to Boeing as its 737 MAX returns to the skies nearly two years after the fleet was grounded following two deadly crashes.

Follow us on: