July 12, 2013 -- Updated 1928 GMT (0328 HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: News of the fire shakes Wall Street; an ex-DOT official says it could lead to FAA action
- The NTSB says it's sending an expert to help; the FAA says it's in contact with Boeing
- A fire breaks out on an empty Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 at Heathrow airport
- Boeing says it has fixed a battery problem that was blamed for two previous fires
(CNN) -- A fire aboard an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner Friday briefly shut runways at London's Heathrow airport and renewed concerns about the troubled aircraft.
No one was hurt in the fire, officials said, and details were unclear about the fire's cause or location aboard the plane.
The Dreamliner, which has been flying since 2011, has been closely watched since last January, when all 50 of the world's 787s were grounded due to overheating problems in its new light-weight lithium-ion battery system. The planes were allowed to return to service in April after Boeing engineered a solution that satisfied U.S. aviation authorities.
Heathrow reopened Friday evening after it had stopped all departures and arrivals for about an hour, the airport said. Boeing officials were at the airport to analyze the problem, the company said.
It's unknown if the battery system was associated with Friday's incident, but a statement released by Ethiopian Airlines said the jet had been "parked at the airport for more than eight hours" before the fire.
Friday's fire has triggered renewed doubt about the 787 among the aviation community, including former U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General Mary Schiavo.
"If today's Boeing 787 problems are battery related," she tweeted, "the FAA may reconsider its decision to allow them to fly before NTSB identified" what caused the battery troubles.
The NTSB -- or National Transportation Safety Board, the United States' top aviation agency -- tweeted that it was sending an "accredited representative" to the airport to help the investigation. A statement from the Federal Aviation Administration said it was "aware of the situation" and was in contact with Boeing as officials "assess the incident."
The news sent Boeing's stock on Wall Street dropping more than 3%, sending a 0.1% shudder through other companies listed among the Dow Jones Industrials. Hundreds of millions of dollars are riding on the success of the Dreamliner, which represents a new generation of lighter, more efficient money-making airliners.
Dreamliner's lithium-ion batteries were blamed for two overheating instances this year in Boston and Japan. No one was hurt in either incident.
In March, the FAA approved a Boeing certification plan to fix the 787s' problematic lithium-ion battery system and prove the new design is safe. A team made up of experts from Boeing and from outside the company redesigned parts of the battery system in what they called a "robust" fix that included separating the battery cells, integrating a new charging system, and setting the batteries in a containment box that would vent outside the aircraft any smoke from overheating batteries.
The Dreamliner boasts high fuel efficiency because of the lightweight carbon composite materials used in its wings and fuselage.
Currently, United Airlines is the only domestic operator of the Dreamliner in the United States. In an apparent show of confidence in the new aircraft, United announced last month that it was ordering 20 additional Dreamliners, specifically the 787-10 model, a longer version of the plane.
CNN's Richard Quest, Scott Hamilton, Jason Hanna and Richard Greene contributed to this report.
>cnn
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