Two aging Boeing 777-200ERs belonging to British Airways have faced technical issues during transatlantic services to the United States this week, with both planes being forced to return to London Heathrow Airport (LHR) for inspection. This eventually led to the flights being canceled, forcing passengers onto other services or into an overnight hotel until a flight the next day.
British Airways was the launch customer for the 777-200ER; however, this was several decades ago, and now the planes are some of the oldest in its fleet. The two planes in question are G-YMMH and G-RAES, both in excess of 25 years of age. The diversion of the flight back to London was out of an abundance of caution, after realizing these technical issues would deem the aircraft unsafe to undertake the trans-oceanic flights.
Baltimore Diverted To London After Just An Hour In The Air
The first flight to experience issues this week was that of BA229, which was headed from London to Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI). According to initial reports by AirLive, the plane departed from London on Thursday, July 9, and had already departed over an hour later than planned. It got to a cruising altitude of 34,000 feet above Ireland when a technical issue struck the plane.
The flight crew was alerted to an unspecified technical issue, which forced the pilots to divert back to base. Due to the plane being laden with jet fuel for the journey to the United States, the plane then spent time dumping fuel to an acceptable landing weight. G-YMMH, which is 25, almost 26 years of age, then landed back in the British capital approximately two hours after its initial departure.
British Airways later canceled the service to Baltimore and placed passengers onto alternative flights or into overnight accommodation before rebooking them onto other services the next day. The plane was subsequently taken out of service for engineering teams to dig into the technical issue.
Non-Stop Flight To New York Turned Around The Next Day
A second incident occurred with the same aircraft type the following day, when G-RAES was forced to return to London shortly after departing for New York JFK Airport (JFK). The service, operating as BA183 on Friday, July 10, encountered a technical issue as the plane was crossing the Irish Sea, with the captain deciding it was better to return home.
The plane, which is over 29 years of age, stopped its initial climb at 20,000 feet after departing from London, before ultimately adjusting this to 25,000 feet when the issue clearly had not resolved itself. This resulted in the turnaround of the near-three-decade-old plane, and it safely landed back in London some two hours after its initial departure time.
Passengers were advised that the flight would be cancelled and were rebooked onto alternative flights. It remains unclear if both of these incidents are related, and if the issue could be more widespread. There were no reports of injuries to passengers or crew on the flight, and both planes were able to land safely back in London after the technical issues arose.
The aircraft continued safely to London after a 28 minute stop in Birmingham.
British Airways Boeing 777-200ER Aircraft Characteristics (G-YMMH & G-RAES)
Both aircraft, according to ch-aviation, have been operating for British Airways for several decades. G-YMMH, the aircraft which was operating to Baltimore, has accumulated more than 25.8 years of active service for the oneworld carrier, having been delivered to BA on October 14, 2000. The plane is configured with three classes of service, including 38 Club World (Business), 40 World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy), and 184 World Traveller (Economy).
For G-RAES, the plane that was set to fly to New York, this frame has been flying for the airline since June 10, 1997, with 29.1 years of service under its belt. It is configured with four classes of service: eight in First (first class), 49 in Club World, 40 in World Traveller Plus, and 138 in World Traveller. Further characteristics for both planes are below:
For passengers on two British Airways flights this week, they found themselves in quick succession returning to base, raising questions about the airline’s fleet replacement strategy and how quickly these planes will be retired. BA has already signaled that these planes will eventually be phased out by the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, 777-9, and Airbus A350.
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