British Airways Chennai flight returns to London mid-air due to technical issue

A BRITISH AIRWAYS flight bound for Chennai returned to London mid-air on Sunday after reporting a technical issue.

The airline said the aircraft landed safely and passengers and crew disembarked normally. “The aircraft returned to Heathrow as a standard precaution after reports of a technical issue,” British Airways said in a statement.

The airline did not provide details on the departure time, number of passengers or crew on board, or how long the flight was in the air before returning.

Live flight tracking data from Flightradar24.com showed that British Airways flight BA35 was scheduled to depart at 12.40 pm and arrive in Chennai at 3.30 am. The Boeing 787-8 aircraft departed from London Heathrow at 1.16 pm, following a delay of more than 35 minutes.

According to the website, the flight remained airborne for nearly two hours before returning to London. It also flew in multiple holding patterns before landing at Heathrow.

“Our teams are working hard to get their journeys back on track as soon as possible,” British Airways added.

Meanwhile, a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Hyderabad also turned back mid-air on Sunday, Flightradar24.com showed. The reason for the diversion was not known.

Flight LH752, operated by a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, departed from Frankfurt at 14.29 instead of its scheduled departure time of 13.05 pm. The flight was due to arrive in Hyderabad at 1.20 am, according to the website.

(With inputs from PTI)