BACK TO SQUARE ONE

Passengers Stuck on 14-Hour Flight to Nowhere After Engine Scare

More than six hours into the journey from Japan to Germany, the flight was forced to turn around and head back to Haneda Airport.

Passengers were stuck on a 14-hour flight to nowhere on Tuesday after an engine scare forced an All Nippon Airways (ANA) jet bound for Europe to turn back midair. All Nippon Airways Flight 223 departed Tokyo’s Haneda Airport at about 11 a.m. local time and was scheduled to arrive some 14 hours later in Frankfurt. More than six hours into the journey, while flying over the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska, the Boeing 787 U-turned and landed back at Haneda at about 1 a.m, according to flight-tracking data from Flightradar24. An ANA spokesperson told Business Insider the plane turned around due to a “low engine oil level.” “The safety of our passengers and crew is our top priority,” the spokesperson said, apologizing for the delay. Flightradar24 data showed a replacement aircraft departed on Wednesday morning and landed in Frankfurt about 20 hours behind schedule. “NH223 is back on the ground in Tokyo after a 14-hour flight to nowhere. The passengers have been rebooked onto a new flight departing in six hours,” a post on Flightradar24’s X account said.