British Airways flight to Budapest is holding and declaring an emergency after takeoff from London.
The Airbus A319 departed from runway 09R at Heathrow at 07:38 BTS and climbed to 26,000 ft and entered a hold.
The crew of the aircraft (registration G-EUPG) declared an emergency (squawk 7700) 45 minutes into the flight.
According to our information, the plane was just out of maintenance and performing its first flight of the day.
Our aircraft returned to London Heathrow as a precaution because of a suspected minor technical issue. We’re sorry to our customers for the disruption to their journeys and our teams are working to get them on their way again as quickly as possible.
British Airways statement to AIRLIVE
UPDATE 08:30 BST
Flight #BA866 is returning to London Heathrow.
UPDATE 08:41 BST
Fire trucks and emergency services on stand by as #BA866 is returning to London Heathrow.
UPDATE 08:43 BST
The airline is scheduling a new departure at 10:00 from LHR.
UPDATE 08:51 BST
The flight #BA866 has landed back on runway 09L, 1 hour and 13 minutes after departure.
UPDATE 08:55 BST
The plane is met by emergency vehicles on the taxiway.
UPDATE 09:03 BST
The Airbus A319 returned to stand.
UPDATE 09:15 BST
The aircraft suffered a water leak in the forward galley immediately after takeoff.
UPDATE 10:05 BST
New departure: 11:10.
