A technical problem with a Finnair flight that returned twice to Helsinki-Vantaa Airport
Finnair flight AY33 from Helsinki to Seattle in the United States made a u-turn on Wednesday not only once, but twice because the air conditioner broke. 191 passengers on their way to the northwestern United States were stuck at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport on Wednesday due to technical problems.
Finnair flight AY33 to Seattle, USA, Airbus A330-302 registered OH-LTR, took off from Helsinki-Vantaa Airport on Wednesday afternoon, 25 minutes after the scheduled flight, at 18:20. However, the journey was not 7,700 kilometers or nine hours long as usual, but the plane turned around shortly after passing the west coast of Norway, Flightradar data shows. The reason was that the air conditioning stopped working on the plane.
The plane landed again at Helsinki-Vantaa to repair the air conditioning and was scheduled to take off again four hours later, at 22:45.
But that trip was even shorter. Just one hour into the journey, above Norrland, Sweden, the flight made another u-turn. The air conditioning was broken again, first on one side of the plane, then on the other side. At that time, the plane was at an altitude of about 12,000 meters above sea level.
According to Finnair’s press service, the technical staff believed that the error had been fixed. According to the company, it will “not often, but sometimes“that flights have to turn twice.
“There was no danger to anyone. Air conditioning is just a matter of comfort“, Finnair’s spokesperson said.
There were 191 passengers on board. Finnair automatically forwarded passengers to alternative routes.
Finnair flies three flights a week between Helsinki and Seattle. The route opened this summer.
Source: HBL Finland, Flightradar24