Heathrow Airport live: Updates as British Airways flight to USA diverted in emergency

A British Airways flight bound for the east coast of the United States has been diverted to a London airport. The Boeing 777-36N(ER) aircraft bound for Philadelphia appears to have made a sudden landing at Heathrow Airport instead. Writers portal MyLondon


Photo by flightradar24

The plane was tracked by Live Air Traffic website flightradar24 as it appeared to land at the West London Airport at around 2.45pm today (Tuesday, May 24). It is not yet clear why the plane was forced to make the emergency landing, although reports suggest it may have been a pressurisation problem.

MyLondon has reached out to Heathrow Airport for more information.

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British Airways confirms replacement flight later today

British Airways has confirmed it is arranging a replacement aircraft to allow customers to travel to Philadelphia later today.

The Airline said it is providing customers with meal vouchers to use at Heathrow Airport in the meantime.

Here's what happened

Thank you for joining our live coverage of this incident at Heathrow Airport today.

Here's what happened:

• A British Airways flight which set off at 12.56pm and was bound for Philadelphia in the US was diverted back to Heathrow, and landed back at the London airport at around 2.45pm.
• The Boeing 777-36N(ER) aircraft - flight number BAW67V - stopped its ascent at 12,000ft and returned to Heathrow.
• British Airways has since released a statement to say the plane landed safely and it was not an emergency landing.
• However, the Airline admitted the plane made a "priority landing" due to a technical issue, with reports online suggesting it may have been due to a "pressurisation problem."

British Airways has confirmed a replacement aircraft will fly passengers to Philadelphia later today.

British Airways statement

British Airways (BA) has clarified the aircraft bound for Philadelphia (flight BAW67V) was not diverted back to Heathrow over an emergency.

BA described the diversion as a "priority landing" due to a technical issue.

The airline said the plane landed safely.

BA made the following statement: "The pilots requested a priority landing as a precaution due to a technical issue and the aircraft landed safely."

About the flight

According to Airport Webcams, the flight which was diverted was a British Airways #BA67 London/Heathrow to Philadelphia (Boeing 777-300ER G-STBB).

The flight, number BAW67V, was scheduled to take off from Heathrow at 12.40pm UTC, and land in Philadelphia at 8.35pm UTC.

The flight took off from Heathrow 16 minutes late, at 12.56pm, but was forced to turn back around and landed at Heathrow around 2.45pm.

Airport Webcams tweeted to say the flight: "stopped the climb at 12,000ft, declared Pan Pan, squawked 7700 General Emergency due to a pressurisation problem (via ATC) & has just returned to LHR.