Qantas flight from London to Singapore dumps fuel over the Channel and returns to Heathrow after ‘pressurisation issue’ on board
- The flight was forced to dump fuel over the Channel and turn back to Heathrow
- Plane had been headed to Singapore when it suffered a ‘pressurisation issue’
- Qantas later said that the flight is scheduled to depart again at around 11.30pm
A Qantas flight travelling from Heathrow to Singapore has been forced to dump fuel over the Channel and turn back, because of a ‘pressurisation issue’ on board.
As the A380 made its way back to the airport, all other air traffic was held.
The exact nature of the issue is unclear, though the flight safely landed at Heathrow after being in the air for around an hour, according to reports.
Flight Radar showed the Qantas plane turning back to Heathrow after it dumped fuel over the Channel
A mother, who was tracking the flight because her son was on it, took to Twitter to share her concerns.
Suzanne Craft wrote: ‘Tracking my son’s flight from Heathrow to Sydney and it seems to be circling over the English channel only been in the air an hour – now I am getting worried anybody know whats going on
A Qantas representative replied: ‘QF2 has turned around back to Heathrow for operational reasons. It is now scheduled to depart again at 11:30PM local time.’
Billy Tucker wrote on Twitter: ‘Looks like Qantas performed some magic to get a ‘replacement’ QF2 for the SIN-SYD leg of the LON-SYD journey after the real QF2 turned back… props, that was my wife’s flight!’
Australian reports later suggested that a faulty indicator was behind the incident.
A cargo door hold warning began to flash in the cockpit, signalling a cabin pressure issue.
A spokesperson for Qantas attributed the problem to a false reading from the indicator.
Mail Online has contacted Qantas for comment.