Flight LH752 took off from Frankfurt around 2:14 pm local time and was scheduled to land at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport early Monday. However, flight tracking websites showed that the plane changed course a few hours into the journey and headed back to Germany.
A passenger on board, speaking to PTI from Frankfurt, said that everyone was informed about the change mid-air and would be staying overnight in Frankfurt.
“We landed back in Frankfurt about 15 minutes ago and were only told that Hyderabad had not given permission for the flight to land,” said the female passenger, who was travelling from the US to see her mother in Hyderabad.
“It was a smooth flight, but two hours in, they said we were going back. Now they’re giving us accommodation and said we’ll leave tomorrow at 10 am on the same flight,” she added.
There has been no official word from Indian authorities yet.While Lufthansa has been contacted for an explanation, a spokesperson from Frankfurt Airport confirmed the flight’s return to PTI.”We can confirm that the aircraft returned to Frankfurt. For further details, please contact the airline or the federal police,” the spokesperson told PTI.
Lufthansa’s own live flight tracker showed that LH752 landed back in Frankfurt at around 5:30 pm local time. The aircraft used was a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
Flight tracking site FlightAware also confirmed this movement, though the exact reason for the mid-air turnaround is still not clear.
Sources told PTI that Air Traffic Control at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport received a message from the flight crew that they were returning to Frankfurt shortly after takeoff from Germany.
Inputs from PTI
