Travelers on a British Airways flight from the Bahamas to London encountered a delay of approximately 11 hours beyond their anticipated arrival time due to two emergency diversions during the journey.
BA flight BA252 took off from Grand Cayman Island at 6:21 PM EST on Tuesday, April 8, for its standard one-hour segment to Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, before continuing on the longer eight-hour route to London.
The flight was proceeding as scheduled over the Atlantic Ocean when it was rerouted to Gander International Airport in Newfoundland, Canada, due to a medical emergency involving a passenger.
Following a five-hour flight, the aircraft arrived in Gander; however, the remaining time for the crew to legally operate the flight was limited.
Consequently, it was decided that the Boeing 777 would divert to Keflavik International Airport in Iceland, allowing for a new crew to take over and ensure the safe continuation of the journey to London.
Following a flight of nearly three hours from Gander to Reykjavik, passengers concluded their journey with an additional flight lasting two hours and 20 minutes to the UK capital.
The flight ultimately arrived in London at 10:38 PM on Wednesday, which was 11 hours later than originally scheduled.
Earlier this week, a flight departing from Heathrow had to make an emergency landing and was left stranded at a remote airfield due to a serious medical emergency involving a passenger.
The Virgin Atlantic aircraft took off from London at 11:40 AM on Wednesday, with an expected arrival in Mumbai, India, on Thursday at 1:40 AM local time.
However, the Airbus A350 was redirected to an “abandoned” military base in Turkey around 4:30 PM local time and encountered a “technical issue” upon landing.