Nine-hour British Airways ‘flight to nowhere’ travels from London to London

The flight turned around just 40 minutes from its destination

The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner had set off from London Heathrow at 9:27am on Monday (June 10) on its way to Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, according to flight records.

But it ended up landing back at Heathrow almost nine and a half hours later at 6:54am the following day (June 11).

The plane had just crossed the Canadian border when it was forced to perform a u-turn and return to London because of a "minor technical issue," British Airways said.

The exact cause of the issue has not been specified by the airline, but it has been reported that it was to do with the aircraft's engines.

The Independent reports flights to Houston only take 30-40 minutes longer than the nine hours and 27 minutes that the plane took to travel from London to London.

The technical issue was not serious enough for the flight to be immediately grounded, but required inspection and engineering. Instead of landing the plane at Houston or another US airport though, the flight returned to London so the issue could be resolved by British Airways technicians and resources at Heathrow.

A statement from British Airways read: “The flight returned to London Heathrow as a precaution due to a minor technical issue. It landed safely and customers disembarked as normal.

“We’ve apologised to our customers for the disruption to their journey.”

It is understood that all the passengers on the 'flight to nowhere' were booked onto alternative flights to Houston. They were also provided with hotel accommodation and information on how to claim additional expenses.

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