Due to running out of fuel, a Turkish Airlines Airbus A321neo operating between Turkey and the United Kingdom was forced to make a detour and declare an emergency.
When it was forced to abort its landing at London Gatwick Airport (LGW) and divert to Birmingham International Airport (BHX), the aircraft, registered as TC-LSN, was flying flight TK1997 between Istanbul Airport (IST) and London Gatwick Airport (LGW).
At roughly 4:29 p.m. local time (UTC +1), the Turkish Airlines Airbus A321neo declared that it was canceling its landing attempt and would instead be diverting to BHX, an airport located 98 nautical miles (181 kilometers) to the north of LGW.
According to flightradar24.com records, the crew of the narrow-body jet squawked 7700, a code intended to alert Air Traffic Control (ATC) of a general emergency onboard an aircraft, at 4:56 pm local time (UTC +1), as the aircraft was flying north.
A few minutes later, the plane made a secure landing at BHX. Both the crew and the passengers had no reported injuries.
At roughly 4:08 p.m. local time (UTC +1), the plane began a five-minute holding pattern above the UK’s south coast before continuing. It then aborted the landing.
It was unclear right away whether there was a problem with separation or if there was congestion at the airport. According to flightradar24.com’s Meteorological Aerodrome Report (METAR) data, the wind speed was 7 knots at 4:20 pm (UTC +1), with a visibility of 9,999 meters, or above 10 kilometers, and a temperature of 17 degrees.
“While operating its TK 1997 Istanbul-London (Gatwick) flight with 122 passengers on board, Turkish Airlines Airbus 321 NEO type aircraft with TC-LSN tail code received its landing clearance after a period of time spent in holding due to the heavy air traffic at the airport,” a Turkish Airlines representative stated.
“However due to the taxiway traffic volume, aircraft passed over according to [to] the instruction of the tower,” they continued, adding that the aircraft reached its minimum diversion levels, forcing it to divert to BHX. “After refueling there for an hour, [the] aircraft departed from Birmingham and landed in London,” the spokesperson concluded.
