A British Airways flight from Heathrow to Chicago turned back and landed safely at Heathrow on Monday 5 October after the crew declared a mid-air emergency over Ireland. Passengers faced a delay of several hours while the aircraft burned off fuel before it could land, and the flight to the United States did not depart again that day.
Flight BA295, a Boeing 777-200ER registered G-VIIA, left Heathrow's Terminal 5 shortly before midday for the scheduled eight-hour-40-minute service to Chicago O'Hare. About an hour into the flight, as the aircraft was cruising at roughly 37,000ft over Ireland, the crew transmitted squawk 7700, the international transponder code for a general emergency, and descended rapidly to around 9,000ft, according to flight-tracking data reported by the Mirror and Hindustan Times.
Reports citing flight-tracking sources said the aircraft had suffered a cabin pressurisation problem, which triggered the emergency descent. British Airways had not released full technical details at the time of writing.
Instead of diverting to Ireland, the crew turned the aircraft back towards the UK. Flight-tracking site Flightradar24 showed BA295 flying a series of loops over south-west England and south Wales for several hours, lowering its landing gear to help burn through fuel, since the jet had taken off with a full tank for the transatlantic crossing and was too heavy to land safely straight away. The flight was tracked by tens of thousands of people online as it circled, the Mirror reported.
The aircraft eventually landed safely back at Heathrow, touching down on runway 27L after close to five hours airborne, according to video and reporting from Cedar News and beinsure.com. Both outlets confirmed the safe landing brought the emergency to an end, with no injuries reported.
This is the second mid-air emergency involving a Heathrow departure in recent weeks, after an IndiGo flight to Delhi turned back with a suspected onboard technical issue on 22 September.
What this means for your journey: passengers booked on BA295 or its return service should expect rebooking onto later Chicago flights and should check directly with British Airways for updated departure times. If you are collecting or dropping off a passenger affected by knock-on delays, check live arrivals before setting off and see our /parking/ guide for Heathrow's drop-off charges and short-stay options.