A plane was forced to return to Heathrow airport straight after take-off today due to an emergency.
The Lufthansa passenger aircraft was heading to Munich, Germany, at 11.30am this morning. Tracking data illustrates how the Airbus A320neo took a turn back to Heathrow.
While climbing to cruising altitude of 14,000 feet, the flight crew issued an emergency alert by transmitting the international distress code Squawk 7700, indicating a general emergency.
Lufthansa told the Mirror: “The flight had to return to LHR due to technical issues."
The exact fault has yet to be confirmed, but the Aviation Herald said it could be because of a fire in the engine.
It said the runway was “vacated” and the plane “stopped on the parallel taxiway for an inspection by emergency services”.
It said: “The aircraft subsequently taxied to the apron with the emergency services in trail.
“Passengers reported the crew indicated the left hand engine needed to be shut down due to a fire warning.
“The airline reported the aircraft returned due to a technical problem.”
We've updated our article about Lufthansa flight #LH2473 emergency landing in London Heathrow after an engine was shut down thanks to a source onboard. More: https://t.co/79yMiCUmx1 pic.twitter.com/WgUYE9KsZF
— AIRLIVE (@airlivenet) January 22, 2026
AirLive also said that according to its sources, pilots had to shut down the engine during climb due to a fire alert and passengers were booked onto the next flight.
It comes after the same general distress signal was set off last week by an Air India flight heading towards the UK.
As it approached Birmingham Airport, flight AI117 which was travelling from India let out a Squawk 7700 code on the radio on January 10.
The flight diverted while it was flying over Leamington Spa and flew towards London instead.
It landed safely in Heathrow Airport.
