A British Airways Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner en route from London Heathrow to Chennai, India, was forced to turn back mid-flight due to a suspected flap malfunction — just days after a similar aircraft was involved in a deadly crash involving Air India.
Flight BA35 had been in the air for less than an hour when the pilot reported a potential technical issue, according to MailOnline. The aircraft spent approximately an hour circling above the Strait of Dover to safely dump fuel before returning to Heathrow, landing at 1:50 p.m., as confirmed by data from Flightradar24.
British Airways later confirmed that the aircraft returned to Heathrow as a “standard precaution” due to a reported technical fault. “The flight landed safely, and customers disembarked as normal. Our teams worked to rearrange travel plans and minimize disruption,” a spokesperson said.
A source close to the matter emphasized that the situation did not constitute an emergency and that such returns are routine when a potential issue is detected early in a flight.
Coincidentally, another Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner operated by Air India was forced to turn back to Hong Kong on the same day, citing a separate suspected technical issue while en route to New Delhi.
The incidents come amid renewed scrutiny of the 787-8 model following the recent Air India tragedy, in which a Dreamliner crashed, resulting in the deaths of 241 of the 242 passengers on board. Footage from that incident — now circulating widely — has prompted aviation experts to suggest the aircraft suffered a dual engine failure prior to the crash.
While the two recent turnbacks did not involve accidents or injuries, they have reignited debate about the reliability of the Boeing 787-8, prompting calls for closer regulatory oversight and further investigation into the model’s technical performance.
