Boeing's Dreamliner suffered another blow to its reputation when a leading airline took it out of service after a technical problem.

Qatar Airways made the move involving one of its 787 aircraft two weeks after a fire damaged an Ethiopian Airlines plane parked at Heathrow Airport. An emergency beacon is being investigated as the possible source of that incident.

Qatar and Boeing declined to give further details, but industry sources said they were treating seriously reports the aircraft had been grounded for days after smoke was seen near an electrical panel.

According to reports, the aircraft has not flown since Sunday, an unusually long downtime for a long-haul jet designed to save on fuel bills.

Qatar Airways said no flights had been cancelled. "This is a minor issue for us, and not an incident, so we are not commenting," a spokeswoman said.

A spokeswoman for Boeing said, "We request that you channel all your inquiries to Qatar Airways."

Reports suggested smoke was seen near an electrical compartment while the jet was on the ground in Doha. A failure in a similar bay caused a fire during a test flight in 2010, and three of the jets, including one owned by Qatar Airways, had electrical problems last December.

A fire-brigade supervisor in Doha said the servide did not have any record of an incident with an airport-related call last week.

India's aviation regulator said earlier it had started an investigation after an oven in a 787 operated by Air India overheated causing smoke.

Glasgow Airport recently launched Thomson Dreamliner flights to Mexico.