Technical issue on Finnair flight, which returned twice to Helsinki Airport

Finnair’s flight AY33 from Helsinki to Seattle in the US on Wednesday made a u-turn not just once, but twice, after the air conditioning broke down. 191 passengers bound for the northwestern United States were stranded at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport after technical problems on Wednesday.

Finnair’s flight AY33 to Seattle in the USA, an Airbus A330-302 registered OH-LTR, took off from Helsinki-Vantaa Airport on Wednesday afternoon 25 minutes after scheduled departure, at 18:20. However, the journey was neither 7,700 kilometres nor nine hours long as it usually is, but the plane turned around shortly after it passed the Norwegian west coast, data on Flightradar shows. The reason was that the air conditioning stopped working on board the plane.

The plane landed again at Helsinki-Vantaa to repair the air conditioning and was due to take off again four hours later, at 22:45.

But that trip was even shorter. Just an hour into the journey, above Norrland in Sweden, the flight made another u-turn. The air conditioning had broken again, first on one side of the plane, then on the other. The plane was then at an altitude of around 12,000 metres above sea level.

According to Finnair’s press service, technical staff believed that the error had been fixed. According to the company, it happens “not often, but sometimes” that flights need to turn around twice.

“There was no danger to anyone. The air conditioning is simply a matter of convenience,” said a Finnair spokesperson.

The plane had 191 passengers on board. Finnair automatically rebooked passengers on alternative routes.

Finnair has three flights a week between Helsinki and Seattle. The route was inaugurated this summer.

Source: HBL Finland, Flightradar24