A British Airways flight made an unexpected return to London's Heathrow Airport on Monday after encountering a technical issue during its journey. The aircraft began its descent from 36,000 feet to 9,000 feet about 30 minutes after departing London, according to FlightAware tracking data. The plane eventually landed back at Heathrow Airport in the evening local time.
The flight was British Airways BA295 and was traveling from London to Chicago. Sky News reported that the aircraft had reached a cruising altitude of about 36,000 feet before beginning its rapid descent over Ireland. The crew declared an emergency before turning the Boeing 777 back toward Britain.
The aircraft lost more than 27,000 feet of altitude within minutes.
British Airways said the aircraft landed safely after its highly trained pilots returned to Heathrow following a technical issue. The airline said passengers left the aircraft normally and staff began working to reorganize their travel plans.
The aircraft did not return directly to Heathrow after turning around. It spent about four hours flying over the Bristol Channel before landing shortly after 5 p.m.
The Guardian reported that the aircraft remained in the area to burn fuel before landing. Passengers also reported that oxygen masks were deployed during the incident.
British Airways has not publicly identified the exact technical problem that caused the emergency.
The flight was operated by a Boeing 777-200ER. Flight tracking information identified the aircraft involved as registration G-VIIA.
Current reports on BA295 describe disruption to passengers on the flight rather than a nationwide air traffic control failure. The separate Heathrow power outage caused by a North Hyde substation fire happened in March 2025 and was not connected to Monday's flight.
British Airways said it was working to get affected customers back on their planned journeys. The safe landing ended an unusual flight that lasted several hours despite never reaching its destination in Chicago.