Passengers on British Airways flight BA31 experienced an 11-hour ordeal when their aircraft, bound for Hong Kong, had to return to London. The Boeing 777-200ER registered G-YMMI departed from Heathrow Airport but turned back after four hours over Turkmenistan due to technical problems. The airline opted to return to London for repairs by its own maintenance team.
In a statement, British Airways confirmed the precautionary return due to a minor technical issue, ensuring the plane landed safely and passengers disembarked normally. The flight’s next attempt to reach Hong Kong with another aircraft (G-YMMT) also failed, diverting to Budapest due to a medical emergency three hours into the journey. It eventually reached Hong Kong with a delay of three hours.
This incident occurs amid scrutiny of Boeing, with the US Justice Department seeking a guilty plea for criminal charges following two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, which killed 346 people. Families of the victims are demanding $40 billion in fines, citing the crashes as the deadliest corporate crime in US history.
