Virgin Atlantic Flight VS129 London-Tampa Declares Emergency

Virgin Atlantic flight VS129, an A330-300 bound for Tampa, Florida, has declared an emergency shortly after takeoff and is returning to London Heathrow.

A Virgin Atlantic flight bound for Tampa, Florida has declared an emergency shortly after takeoff from London Heathrow.

Virgin Atlantic flight VS129, operated by an Airbus A330-300, declared the emergency with squawk code 7700 after departing London Heathrow. The flight is now on return to London.

Virgin Atlantic VS129 London-Tampa

Flight track of Virgin Atlantic VS129 showing return to London.

Flight VS129 conducted a turnaround and return to the origin airport as it approached the southwest coast of England. Flight crew terminated the climb and commenced a descent. The flight subsequently squawked transponder code 7700 whilst on descent through FL140 at 1453 UTC.

The nature of the problem prompting the early return is not yet known.

15:45 UTC: Landed London Heathrow (LHR)

Virgin Atlantic flight VS129 has now landed London Heathrow Airport (LHR) after declaring an emergency earlier this afternoon.

Flight Details

Flight data shows that flight VS129 made a departure out of Heathrow Airport at 1509 local time. The flight was originally bound for Tampa International Airport (TPA).
Following a normal departure, the flight was approaching the southwest coast of England in preparation for the Atlantic crossing. Flight crew then terminated the climb a flight level FL280 (28,000 feet) before entering a descent and a return to Heathrow.

Mark Harkin, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The aircraft conducting the VS129 service to Florida was an Airbus A330-300, registered G-VGEM. This is a 13.6 year old widebody aircraft belonging to the carrier Virgin Atlantic.
It has been in operational service with the airline since October 2012. The aircraft has been given the airline name ‘Diamond Girl’.

16:00 UTC: Update from Virgin Atlantic

A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said: “Our flight, the VS129 from London Heathrow to Tampa has returned to Heathrow on a priority landing due to a technical issue. The safety and security of our customers and crew is always our priority and the aircraft landed normally.”

“We would like to apologise to customers for the delay and any inconvenience caused, and we’re working hard to ensure that they can continue their journey as soon as possible.”