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An Airbus A330 had to circle over the Arabian Sea for over two hours. (archive picture)
KEYSTONE/CHRISTIAN MERZ
For 231 passengers, the journey to Zurich ended in Mumbai for the time being. After an error message appeared on board a Swiss Airbus, the crew aborted the flight. Before landing safely, the aircraft first had to burn off around 20 tons of fuel.
A Swiss flight from Mumbai to Zurich had to be aborted on Friday night. Flight LX155 took off from India at 21:34 Swiss time (CEST), but landed back at the departure airport in Mumbai after 5 hours and 20 minutes. This is shown by data from the flight tracking service Flightradar24.com.
The flight initially went according to plan. After a good two hours, however, the pilots turned back just before the border with Pakistan. "An error display occurred during the flight from Mumbai to Zurich," explained Swiss media spokeswoman Nicole Meier to the Tages Anzeiger newspaper. The electrical system, "which controls the lighting, seats, toilets and in-flight entertainment system, among other things", was affected. An attempt to reset the system was unsuccessful.
The Airbus A330 aircraft then returned to Mumbai. Before landing, however, the aircraft had to fly circles over the Arabian Sea for 130 minutes. In a total of 15 laps, it remained at an altitude of just under 4000 meters.
The reason for this was the weight of the aircraft. "If it had landed with its original weight, it would have exceeded the maximum permissible landing weight," says Meier. Unlike certain other aircraft, the Airbus A330 does not have a system to dump fuel in the air. Kerosene therefore had to be burned by circling for longer periods.
"Circling has made it around 20 tons lighter," explains Meier. Such a measure is not taken lightly. "In this case, our cockpit crew's top priority was to guarantee a problem-free landing." The aircraft finally landed safely in Mumbai at 4.55 a.m. CEST.
The incident meant a long delay for the 231 passengers. According to Swiss, most of the passengers were rebooked onto alternative connections on the same day or during the night. "We sought individual solutions for around 20 guests with more complex bookings or special services."
The airline regrets the inconvenience caused. However, the safety of passengers and crew was the top priority at all times.
