British Airways passengers and crew depart Iqaluit
Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner expereinced ‘technical issue’ that forced emergency landing
A British Airways Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner takes off from Iqaluit at about 1:40 a.m. Friday. The plane carried crew and passengers who had spent time in Iqaluit after BA53 from London to Seattle made an emergency landing Thursday morning. (Photo by Mosha Folger)
Passengers on the British Airways flight that was diverted to Iqaluit Thursday morning departed the Nunavut capital in the early hours of Friday morning.
Flight BA53 — a Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner — left London’s Heathrow airport Thursday morning en route to Seattle, Wash. and landed safely in Iqaluit at 11:07 a.m., according to Flightradar24, a site that tracks air travel around the world. The crew had declared an emergency, due to what an airline spokesperson called an undisclosed “technical issue,” while flying over the Arctic.
The airline sent another plane from Toronto to take the stranded crew and travellers to Vancouver, on their way to Seattle.
In an email statement, British Airways said it “worked hard to support customers and provide food and accommodation after the aircraft diverted.”
The flight needed to leave early because most of the hotel rooms in Iqaluit were booked, in part due to the Inuit Circumpolar Council’s general assembly. The city couldn’t accommodate the 270 passengers.
“We have apologized to our customers and don’t underestimate the impact this will have had on their plans,” British Airways said in the statement. “We’ve made specific arrangements to get customers to their destination as quickly as possible and have been in touch to help put things right.”
The incident created a rare sight for Iqaluit: two enormous 787s parked on the airport tarmac at the same time. The original plane that suffered the unspecified technical issue was still parked near the airport on Friday evening.
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