According to Chronicle Live and Flight Emergency reports, a technical fault involving cabin depressurization caused the unplanned return. A British Airways spokesperson said: "the aircraft returned as a precaution and landed safely. We've apologized to our customers for the inconvenience, and our teams are working hard to get them on their way as quickly as possible. "
Flightradar24 records show that the flight circled multiple times over northeast England and reached a peak altitude of 9,000 feet before landing back at Newcastle International Airport at 13:16 local time after spending39 minutes in the air. The involved aircraft is an Airbus A321neo registered as G-NEOS.
According to ch-aviation fleet data, G-NEOS is one of fifteen Airbus A321neo aircraft currently operated by British Airways, with seven more expected for delivery. These planes have an average age of4 .2 years; however, G-NEOS is6 .16 years old.
Ordered on July14 ,2014 ,the aircraft first flew on January18 ,2019 ,and was delivered to British Airways eleven days later.It features220 seats in aflexible configuration catering various business class loads.Up-to14 rows can accommodate 'Club Europe' short-haul business class passengers with middle seats blocked for added space and privacy.According aeroLOPA
For travelers from central Newcastle to central London high-speed rail options offer journeys under three hours with certain non-stop services available. However these trains aren't useful for those connecting onto long-haul flights from London's Heathrow hub making flying necessary instead.CAA data reveals that in2024 this route was Newcastles most popular destination with almost500000 passengers surpassing Amsterdam by125000 travelers.At Londons end it ranks sixth busiest domestic route being one among six scheduled departures yesterday alone.Photo Lukas Wunderlich Shutterstock