MUNICH, Germany — A Lufthansa City flight bound for Sweden was forced to abort its journey and declare an airborne emergency shortly after taking off from Munich International Airport (MUC) today.
Lufthansa City flight VL2430, a regularly scheduled service to Gothenburg Landvetter Airport (GOT) in Sweden, departed Munich on schedule. However, roughly 20 minutes into the flight, the cockpit crew transmitted a “Squawk 7700” code, the international aviation transponder signal indicating a general emergency.
The aircraft involved is an Airbus A319-100 carrying the registration D-ABGK.
Flight tracking data showed the twin-engine jet quickly halted its northbound climb toward Scandinavia while cruising over southern Germany. Instead of returning to the busy hub at Munich, the flight crew opted to divert northwest toward Frankfurt Airport (FRA), Germany’s largest aviation hub, which serves as the primary base of operations for Lufthansa and offers extensive maintenance capabilities.
Air traffic controllers immediately granted priority handling to the flight, clearing a direct path for its descent into Frankfurt.
Details regarding the exact nature of the emergency have not yet been released by Lufthansa or German aviation authorities. Emergency ground crews at Frankfurt Airport were placed on standby to meet the aircraft upon arrival, a standard safety protocol whenever an inflight emergency code is triggered.
Lufthansa City Airlines, a newly launched subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group that recently took over several regional European routes, has not yet issued an official statement regarding the number of passengers and crew on board or the status of the aircraft.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more technical details become available from the airline and investigators.
UPDATE 17:12
Touch down on runway 25L at FRA airport.
UPDATE 17:25
The aircraft is parked at remote stand of the airport.
UPDATE 22:00
The aircraft diverted to smoke in the cabin according to source.
