The first Qatar Airways Boeing 787 Dreamliner returned to the air yesterdayafter a ruling by safety authorities in the United States that it was safe to fly again.
Flight QR116 from Doha to Dubai landed safely at 1.15pm with the chief executive Akbar Al Baker among its passengers.
"I always said I would be the first to fly on a Qatar Airways 787 once it returned to service," he said.
"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."
The airline's fleet of five Dreamliners was grounded earlier this year following a directive from government aviation regulators in both Washington and Doha, issued because of suspected problems with the airliner's battery systems.
In all, 50 Dreamliners were grounded in January after the batteries on an All Nippon Airways 787 overheated in flight, forcing an emergency landing. Another incident aboard a Japan Airlines 787 on the ground at Boston airport started a fire.
The new airliner is the first to be constructed mainly from composite materials, making it up to 20 per cent more fuel-efficient than existing jets, says Boeing.
Mr Al Baker was joined by on the flight by the president of Boeing Middle East, Jeffrey Johnson, and Boeing's deputy fleet chief, David Silver.
dblack@thenatiuonal.ae
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills