British Airways Plane to India Turns Back Mid-Air After Scary Flap Problem

A British Airways Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner en route from London to Chennai was forced to turn back mid-air due to a suspected technical issue involving the aircraft’s flaps. The flight, BA35, departed from Heathrow but was less than an hour into its journey when the pilot identified the issue and opted to return as a precaution.

Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 shows the aircraft circled above the Strait of Dover for approximately an hour to safely dump fuel before landing back at Heathrow at 1:50pm. British Airways confirmed the incident, stating the decision to return was made as a “standard precaution” and emphasized that it was not an emergency landing.

“The aircraft returned to Heathrow as a standard precaution after reports of a technical issue,” a British Airways spokesperson said. “The flight landed safely with crew and customers disembarking as they normally would, and our teams worked hard to get their journeys back on track as soon as possible.”

The incident comes amid heightened scrutiny of the Boeing 787-8 model, following a recent crash involving an Air India Dreamliner that resulted in the deaths of 241 passengers. On the same day as the BA35 diversion, another Air India 787-8 flight bound for New Delhi had to return to Hong Kong due to a separate suspected technical problem.

While British Airways maintained that the flap issue was handled in line with standard aviation safety protocols, the series of incidents involving the same aircraft model is likely to intensify ongoing concerns around the Dreamliner’s reliability.