A British Airways Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was forced to return back to Heathrow Airport after suffering “technical issue” mid-air two days after the Air India crash in Ahmedabad.
The BA plane is the same type of plane that killed 241 passengers in Ahmedabad last week in India.
The 787-8 Dreamliner was not even an hour into its journey to Chennai and circled over Dover to dump fuel before landing safely at Heathrow Airport at 1.50pm on Sunday.
BA told the MailOnline the flight returned back to Heathrow Airport as a “standard precaution” and it was not declared as an emergency landing.
On the same day hours later another Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner flight was forced to return back to Hong Kong, Reuters reported.
Flight AI 315 took off from Hong Kong then started to descend from an altitude of 22,000 feet.
A BA spokesperson said, “The aircraft returned to Heathrow as a standard precaution after reports of a technical issue.
“The flight landed safely with crew and customers disembarking as they normally would, and our teams worked hard to get their journeys back on track as soon as possible.”
Last week aircraft giant Boeing saw its shares tumble more than eight per cent at the start of trading in New York following the Air India plane crash in India.
In a statement, Boeing said last week, “We are in contact with Air India regarding Flight 171 and stand ready to support them. Our thoughts are with the passengers, crew, first responders and all affected.”
The Air India tragedy marks the first time a Boeing 787 has crashed but new chief executive Kelly Ortberg is expected to face scrutiny over years of safety crises that have surrounded the company.
