Boeing 787 returns early after attempted London-Bogota flight

Last night, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner flying from London to Bogota had to return to its point of origin. The Avianca flight AV121 was in the air for just over an hour before landing back at London Heathrow Airport. This route has seen diversions on multiple occasions recently.

According to tracking data from Flightradar24, the flight operates daily with a scheduled departure time of 22:05 and is expected to arrive in Bogota at 03:00 the next morning. However, yesterday's flight turned around off the north coast of Cornwall and landed back in London at 23:27. The reason for this diversion remains unknown, though there are suggestions it might have been due to a medical emergency. Simple Flying has reached out to Avianca for further information.

The aircraft involved was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner registered as N783AV. It is one of 16 such aircraft operated by Avianca and has an average age of 10.67 years old. Interestingly, this is not the first time N783AV has diverted while operating flight AV121; it also happened in April 2025 when it landed in Cali, Colombia.