British Airways Flight to New York U-Turns Over Atlantic to London

A British Airways flight bound for New York has u-turned over the Atlantic back to London Heathrow due to an issue onboard.

Incident: British Airways Flight to New York U-Turns Over Atlantic to London…

[monsterinsights_popular_posts_inline]

British Airways flight BA181 is a routine scheduled flight between London Heathrow and New York Newark, with the affected rotation being operated by G-YMMS.

As per data from Planespotters.net, G-YMMS is a 14.6 year old Boeing 777-200 that was delivered to the airline back in May 2009.

Of the 777-200 variant, the airline has 43 of them, of which 39 of them are in active service, and the rest are parked, offering an average age of 23.7 years.

British Airways flight BA181 departed London Heathrow at 1904 local time and headed westbound towards New York.

Upon entering Oceanic Airspace, which is the entry point for the Atlantic Ocean, the aircraft turned back in the direction of Heathrow.

G-YMMS landed back in Heathrow around two to three hours after initial departure, with no indication as of yet if it will continue on to New York tonight.

As per @FlightEmergency on X, it is understood the cause of the u-turn back to London Heathrow was due to a broken heating element onboard.

Such an issue would have prompted a return so then maintenance can fix it in the UK capital as opposed to continuing on to New York with such an issue.

AviationSource will approach British Airways for a comment on this u-turn back to base. Upon retrieving additional information, we will update the article accordingly.

Click the banner to subscribe to our weekly Emergencies and Incidents newsletter.