Qantas flight QF1 began began squawking an emergency code in Georgian airspace before landing at Heydar Aliyev airport in Baku, Azerbaijan. - ST FILE
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): A Qantas flight from Singapore to London has been diverted to Baku, Azerbaijan, due to a technical issue in the cockpit.
Flight QF1, an Airbus A380 that came into service in August 2009, departed Changi Airport’s Terminal 1 at 12.44am on Friday (Dec 22), following a delay of 49 minutes.
Several flight trackers online, including the Swedish Flightradar24 website, said the Heathrow-bound aircraft began squawking 7700 - the communications code for emergency - at around 10.15am (Singapore time) and made a U-turn in Georgian airspace, near its capital Tbilisi.
The aircraft then landed at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku at 11.07am (Singapore time).
“Our flight from Singapore to London has made an unscheduled landing at Baku Airport in Azerbaijan after pilots received an intermittent fault indicator in the cockpit,” said a Qantas spokesman in response to The Straits Times’ queries.
“Engineers will inspect the aircraft prior to its continuing its journey.”
This is a developing story.
