Aerolineas Argentinas flight ARG1130 made a U-turn over the Atlantic Ocean and is now heading back towards Argentina. The Airbus A330 was scheduled to land in London, marking the airline’s first arrival to the city in years.
An Airbus A330-200 took off from Ezeiza International Airport (EZE) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on May 5, 2020. The aircraft was carrying out the flight ARG1130, heading towards London Heathrow (LHR), the United Kingdom, where it was previously expected to land at 3:50 pm (local time) on May 6, 2020.
Aerolineas Argentinas has not flown to London Heathrow since the Rugby World Cup in 2015. The airline ceased regularly scheduled passenger service to and from the destination even further in the past, in 1990.
After the five years break, the A330 was heading to London to pick up stranded Argentinians. The repatriation flight was previously expected to return to EZE on May 7, 2020.
However, approximately 5 hours and 30 minutes into the long-haul flight, having just passed Brazil and entered the airspace over the Atlantic Ocean, the aircraft changed direction and headed back towards Latin America.
The reason for the turnaround is unknown at the moment.