Updated January 22nd, 2024 at 17:26 IST
The plane flew back to Heathrow and touched down at 8.41 am after which several fire engines rushed towards it.
Fumes force British Airways flight to make emergency landing at Heathrow | Image:British Airways
Emergency Landing: A British Airways flight en route to Prague from London turned back to make an emergency landing after fumes were seen rising in the cockpit.
After half an hour into the flight, it turned around over the Strait of Dover and came back to the UK, according to a flight path data from FlightRadar24, a real time flight-tracking site.
The plane flew back to Heathrow and touched down at 8.41 am after which several fire engines rushed towards it.
A British Airways spokesperson blamed a ‘technical issue’ for the quick about-turn, not specifying what had caused the pilots to choose to return to Heathrow.
In an official statement, British Airways said, ”We’re sorry for the delay in our customers’ journey after the aircraft returned to Heathrow as a precaution. Our teams looked after them whilst they waited to board a replacement aircraft to continue their journey.”
The incident comes after the airline cancelled more than three dozen flights from Heathrow on Sunday, because of Storm Isha.
Yesterday, a British Airways flight was unable to land due to the bold winds at Heathrow, forcing the pilot to take off again and re circle multiple times before it could land.
British Airways said, “Like other airlines, we have had to make schedule adjustments due to the adverse weather conditions across the UK and Europe caused by Storm Isha. We’ve apologised to our customers for the disruption to their travel plans and our teams are working hard to get them on their way as quickly as possible,” citing media reports.
A few days back, a JetBlue Airbus A321 bound for California aborted takeoff on the John F. Kennedy Airport runway after reports of a fire aboard, the New York Post reported.
The steel-bird was in the process of departing at approximately 8:30 p.m. when the crew informed the control tower to the issue, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).