After long maintenance in Spain, pilots of a Dreamliner from Mayotte declared an emergency and diverted to Jeddah.
An Air Austral Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner operating a Mayotte–Paris flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, September 13, after experiencing a technical issue mid-flight.
The aircraft, registered F-OLRB, departed Mayotte without incident and made its scheduled stopover in Nairobi before continuing toward Paris. During the second leg, the crew detected a drop in oil pressure, prompting a diversion and priority landing at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Saudi Arabia.
The aircraft was returned to service the previous day following an extended period of maintenance and grounding in Teruel, Spain.
A Boeing 777-300ER will be dispatched from Paris to repatriate the passengers stranded in Jeddah. They are expected to travel on special flight UU9973, scheduled to depart Jeddah at 5:45 p.m. and arrive at Paris-CDG at 10:00 p.m. local time.
