A British Airways flight bound for Turkey was forced to divert to Frankfurt this weekend after the left-hand engine failed. No passengers were injured in the course of events. However, the plane did end up trapped in Germany for almost an entire day whilst awaiting repairs.
Issues Before Take-off
British Airways flight BA-670 departed from London’s Heathrow Airport at 13:50 on Saturday 2 July, more than two hours after its scheduled departure time. According to passengers, this was due to the fact that the Airbus A320-200 with registration G-EUUK was a replacement for the aircraft initially meant to operate the flight.
The flight was scheduled to arrive at Milas-Bodrum Airport as part of a regular service BA runs over the summer. Data from Flightradar24.com show that flight 670 has been providing weekly service to Turkey since 28 May this year.
Trouble over Germany
If two hours waiting on the tarmac wasn’t enough for passengers, the flight then encountered issues shortly after entering German national airspace. The aircraft’s left-hand engine failed whilst the plane was about to pass over the historic university town of Heidelberg, forcing the plane to divert to Frankfurt, about 40 kilometres north of where the engine failed.
The aircraft was on the ground within 35 minutes of the issue being identified. According to the Aviation Herald, G-EUUK landed safely on Frankfurt’s runway 07C at 15:15 local time. But this wasn’t the end of the ordeal for the British Airways A320.
21-Hour Layover
Flight BA670 was stuck on the ground for over 21 hours whilst the airline tried to source repair or replacement for the broken engine. Touching down at 15:15 on Saturday, the British Airways flight didn’t set off again until 12:52 on Sunday afternoon, arriving in Bodrum just shy of 23 hours late. Since then, G-EUUK has returned to London and is back to regular service.
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