British Airways Gulf flights cancelled and diverted after Trump strikes Iran and tension mounts
Hundreds of British Airways passengers headed for Dubai spent nine hours in flight – finally arriving in Zurich, less than 500 miles from their starting point.
The lengthy diversion occurred as a result of the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel, which on Saturday night saw Donald Trump target Tehran’s nuclear facilities with bombs.
BA flight 109 from London Heathrow to the Gulf hub took off at 9.53pm and flew normally for almost five hours towards Dubai. The flightpath took the Boeing 787 Dreamliner southeast over Egypt, the Red Sea and into Saudi Arabian airspace.
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But at 2.48am British time, about 90 minutes before touchdown at Dubai, the aircraft turned around and retraced its course due to the fresh attacks in the Middle East.
The flight had been fuelled only for the journey to Dubai with a contingency for diversion – but could not make it all the way back to London. Instead, the pilots landed at Zurich airport, which is 480 miles from Heathrow.
According to information at ba.com, the plane is expected to leave Zurich at 12.50 British time, landing at Heathrow at 2.35pm.
A later British Airways flight from Heathrow to Dubai was cancelled before departure. All three BA departures from Heathrow to Dubai on Sunday 22 June are grounded.
As a result of the diversion and cancelled flights, more than 1,000 British Airways passengers are waiting in Dubai to be flown home.
Emirates’ overnight flights from the UK to Dubai, from airports including Heathrow, Stansted, Birmingham and Manchester, operated as normal. BA may rebook stranded passengers on Emirates.
British Airways has also grounded its Sunday evening flight from London Heathrow to Doha.
Dubai is less than 100 miles from the Iranian mainland; Doha is 150 miles away.
A UK traveller, Alex Cairns, was booked on British Airways flight 108 from Dubai to London Heathrow on Sunday, which BA cancelled. Under air passengers’ rights rules the airline must get him home as soon as possible, including on another carrier.
He told The Independent: “Emirates flights are busy so BA couldn’t get me away till maybe Tuesday, maybe Wednesday, so instead I’ve got a refund and now re booked myself on Qatar airways for tomorrow.
