Summary
- British Airways flight BA2646 needed to return to London Gatwick Airport attributable to fumes within the cockpit and cabin.
- The aircraft involved, an Airbus A321 registered as G-EUXK, had been inactive for several months before the incident.
- This shouldn’t be the primary fume event experienced by British Airways in October 2023, as two other incidents involving British Airways Airbus A320 aircraft.
A British Airways Euroflyer Airbus A321, registered as G-EUXK, was forced to return to its origin airport attributable to fumes within the cockpit and the cabin. A alternative Airbus A321, registered as G-EUXD, was dispatched to hold the passengers to their destination, Malta Luqa International Airport (MLA).
Fumes within the cockpit of A321
Flightradar24 data showed that the BA Euroflyer Airbus A321 was operating flight BA2646 from London Gatwick Airport (LGW) to MLA on October 27, 2023. It departed LGW at 10:58 local time, which is greater than two hours later than its scheduled departure time of 8:10. Roughly an hour into the flight, while the aircraft was flying above France, the aircraft began to return to its departure airport.
The flight crew never squawked 7700, the final code for an onboard emergency, throughout the flight. At 12:00, the BA Euroflyer landed at LGW, where it was met with emergency services, in line with The Aviation Herald. The captain of the flight announced to the passengers that a fume event had occurred, which resulted within the air turnback. A British Airways representative confirmed to Easy Flying that the aircraft needed to turn around attributable to
We’re sorry for the delay in our customers journeys after their aircraft experienced a technical issue.
Planespotters.net data showed that between March and October 2020, the aircraft was stored at Glasgow International Airport (GLA) when it was moved to Madrid Barajas International Airport (MAD). It stayed within the Spanish capital until October 2022, when it resumed energetic services. Nevertheless, it had been inactive for several months before returning to service on the flight to MLA, where the fume event occurred. In response to a post on Flyer Talk, it was damaged by a collision with a ground vehicle at Marrakesh Menara Airport (RAK), Morocco, in July. Flightradar24 flight history showed that the aircraft was moved from RAK to MAD in early October 2023, and from there, it flew from MAD to LGW on October 25.
Photo: Vytautas Kielaitis | Shutterstock
For the reason that incident on October 27, the aircraft had returned to energetic service on the following day. It accomplished two flights each on October 28 and October 29. Meanwhile, ch-aviation data showed that Airbus originally delivered the A321 to British Airways in August 2007. The airline transferred the aircraft to the LGW-based BA Euroflyer, which received its Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) in December 2022, in March 2023.
Several British Airways fume events in October 2023
British Airways has suffered not less than two other fume events during October 2023. The airline’s Airbus A320, registered as G-TTOB, was met with emergency services because it landed at London Heathrow Airport (LHR) on a flight from Barcelona El Prat International Airport (BCN) on October 8. An announcement by the London Ambulance Service on the time said that the aircraft was attended to by several medics and paramedics, with the services treating three patients on the scene.
Photo: LCV | Shutterstock
On October 12, one other British Airways Airbus A320, registered as G-EUUT, was operating flight BA948 from LHR to Munich Airport (MUC) when the flight crew reportedly fell unwell. They managed to land the aircraft on the destination airport despite suffering the fume event. Each G-TTOB and G-EUUT returned to service on October 13 and October 15, respectively, as shown by Flightradar24 data.