National

Qantas recovery flight heads to Azerbaijan

By AAP Newswire

Dec 24, 2022

Qantas passengers disembark in Azerbaijan. — The UK-bound flight made an emergency landing after pilots noticed a fault indicator in the cockpit. -PR Handout Image

A recovery flight is en route to pick up Qantas passengers stranded in the eastern European nation of Azerbaijan.

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Travellers were stuck in the nation's capital after their Qantas flight en route to London was forced to land when pilots saw a fault indicator in the cockpit of the Airbus A-380.

The recovery flight - an Airbus A-380 - left Sydney on Saturday morning and will pick up the stranded flyers before getting them to London by Christmas morning.

Engineers were also on their way to Azerbaijan to assess the grounded plane.

"We know this has been a significant disruption for customers ahead of Christmas, however we will always put safety before schedule," an airline spokesperson said.

Grounded customers were put up in hotels as Qantas made plans to pull them out of Azerbaijan.

The original flight made the emergency landing at Baku International Airport after sensors warned of smoke in the plane's cargo hold.

However, this has now been attributed to what is likely a faulty sensor as no evidence of smoke was found in the plane's hold.

By AAP Newswire

Australian Associated Press