LONDON — A British Airways flight bound for Palma De Mallorca was forced to make a U-turn over central France and declare an airborne emergency following a technical malfunction in its landing gear system.
Flight BA2672, operated by an Airbus A320 with registration G-EUYW, departed London Gatwick Airport (LGW) at 16:00 GMT scheduled for Spain’s Balearic Islands. The aircraft had reached its cruising altitude of 37,000 feet over French airspace when the flight crew received notification of a Landing Gear Control system failure.
Roughly an hour into the flight, assessment of the mechanical issue indicated that the specific control failure could not be resolved by maintenance teams at Palma De Mallorca Airport (PMI). To ensure maintenance support and fleet operational continuity, the flight crew opted to abort the trip and return directly to their origin hub.
Upon turning around over central France, the pilots transmitted a squawk 7700 code on their transponder, officially declaring a general emergency to air traffic control to secure priority handling and direct routing on the return trip.
The aircraft is expected to land back at London Gatwick at approximately 18:05 GMT, where emergency ground crews will be positioned as a standard safety precaution.
UPDATE #1
Safely landed on runway 08R.
UPDATE #2
Parked on remote stand of the airport.
