A United Parcel Service (UPS) courier aircraft was forced to turn around and perform an emergency landing at Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD) due to a mid-air fuel leak.

Flight UPS152 departed SYD at around 19:36 local time on July 13, 2024, and was bound for Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport (SZX) in China.

Less than two hours after the B767-300 departed, a fuel leak was reported when the aircraft was crossing over Queensland territory, and pilots issued a mayday call.

Image: FlightAware

Fire trucks from the New South Wales Fire and Rescue and Sydney Airport were deployed on standby and met the aircraft when it returned to Sydney 65 minutes after the fuel leak was reported.

According to flight tracker site Flightradar24, the B767-300, with registration N331UP, stayed in Sydney overnight and resumed operations the following day, heading to Incheon International Airport (ICN) in South Korea. 

The flight had three people onboard.

According to Code7700, a site that calls itself a ‘go-to’ for professional pilots, the two possible sources of an aircraft fuel leak are the tanks or the engines and its feed systems.