British Airways passengers endured a five-hour flight to nowhere after the Airbus A380 they were flying on was forced to return to Singapore Changi Airport (SIA).
Passengers onboard the British Airways Airbus A380 (registered G-XLED) had already suffered an almost four-hour delay to their flight before they eventually took off, but a technical issue killed any hopes of arriving at London-Heathrow Airport (LHR) anytime soon.
Flight BA 12 was scheduled to depart Singapore at 23:20 local time on April 22, 2024, and arrive in Lonon-Heathrow at 06:30. However, the delay meant the A380 did not get off the ground until 03:10.
After flying for a short time over Malaysia the superjumbo turned around but was faced with the issue of reducing the fuel weight before being able to land.
According to flightradar.com data, the incident resulted in the BA A380 circling for around five hours burning off fuel over the South China Sea.
#BA12 back on the ground in Singapore after more than 5 hours in the air. pic.twitter.com/VmhgW5VQnm
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) April 23, 2024
When it was safe to do so passengers were eventually flown back to Singapore Changi Airport where the aircraft landed on runway 2C.
Commenting on the incident flightradar24 said: “5 hours is a long time to go nowhere, but safety is the #1 priority.”
British Airways subsequently delayed the flight to the following day.
This latest news of passenger endurance comes after passengers onboard a El Al Boeing 777-200ER between Tel Aviv and Dubai were taken on a nine-hour trip before ending up back in Israel.