LONDON- A British Airways (BA) flight from London Heathrow (LHR) had to reverse its course and execute an emergency landing approximately one hour into its journey to Prague (PRG) due to reported fumes leakage in the cockpit.
The incident involving British Airways flight BA854 occurred when the aircraft, departing from Heathrow at 7:25 am today, was compelled to make an emergency landing back at Heathrow just an hour into the flight.
British Airways London to Prague Flight
Originally bound for Prague in the Czech Republic with an expected arrival time of just after 10 am, the flight only reached Dover before it was necessary to abort the journey and return to London.
Flight path data sourced from FlightRadar24 indicates that the aircraft commenced a turn shortly after traversing over Dover. It executed a turnaround over the Strait of Dover, deviating from its initial trajectory toward London City Airport.
Following this last-minute change of direction, the plane safely landed back at Heathrow at 8:41 am.
Upon the aircraft’s landing at Heathrow, multiple fire engines swiftly responded to the scene, as depicted in video footage streamed and shared on YouTube.
A spokesperson from British Airways told the Mirror that the abrupt reversal was due to a ‘technical issue.’ However, they did not provide details on what prompted the pilots to decide to return to Heathrow.
The spokesperson expressed regret for the delay in passengers’ journeys, stating, “We apologize for the inconvenience caused to our customers after the aircraft returned to Heathrow as a precaution. Our teams took care of them while they awaited boarding a replacement aircraft to resume their journey.”
Similar Incident
In November 2023, a British Airways flight at London Heathrow Airport had to be evacuated due to the illness of four passengers reportedly caused by “fumes.” The incident occurred on a flight arriving from Barcelona (BCN) at 4:15 pm local time.
Emergency services quickly responded to the situation, with footage showing several fire engines and police cars at Terminal 5 while passengers were temporarily outside the aircraft.
One affected passenger expressed on social media, “It’s quite an experience being stuck on a plane with a ‘potential contagion’ for an hour and a half without any explanation or information.”
He later added, “Just to clarify, there was no contagion in the end, at least I hope not, as they eventually allowed us to disembark.”
“The Metropolitan Police appeared to respond promptly to the situation. However, Heathrow staff seemed increasingly unclear and hostile towards the understandably confused and frightened passengers who simply wanted to go home,” commented one individual.
The London Fire Brigade reported that no elevated chemical readings were detected inside the aircraft, and the Metropolitan Police confirmed that four individuals received treatment at the scene.
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