German airline carrier, Lufthansa customers were stranded in Angola after one of its Airbus A350 aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing on Saturday.
Lufthansa has since confirmed that development to Business Insider SA this week, saying the cockpit crew decided to shut down the plane.
It is also reported that the plane experienced technical irregularity in an engine display and diverted to the Southern African country, Angola.
The flight was en route to Munich, Germany from Cape Town when the Airbus A350 suffered irregularities.
“The cockpit crew then decided to shut down one engine for landing as a precaution and to land in Luanda with priority status,” the airline told Insider.
“The aircraft landed safely. Safety on board was not compromised at any time.”
Per the report and data from Flightradar24, the plane squawked 7700, which means there is an emergency and the pilots needed immediate assistance from air traffic control.
According to Aviation Herald, a commercial aircraft accident and incident reporting publication published that the aircraft was still on the ground in Luanda 20 hours after landing and will require a new engine.
In addition, BusienssTech Africa has learned that the Angolan military confiscated the passengers’ passports in Luanda because they did not have the proper entry documents leaving passengers stuck on the plane for hours before being allowed to disembark.
The airline told Insider the passengers were given a hotel room, where they “were looked after around the clock by Lufthansa staff.”
“The first passengers [left] already on Saturday, the remaining passengers fly [Monday] with LH561 via Frankfurt to their destinations,” the carrier said.
LH561 is a regularly scheduled flight that Lufthansa operates three times a week and the company explained each customer was rebooked within 48 hours.
Looking at past events related to this incident, this website has found that this is not the first time this year an airline has landed in less-than-preferred diversion airports.
Back in November, a United Airlines Boeing 787 flying from London Heathrow to San Francisco diverted to Iqaluit in the Canadian Arctic due to a mechanical issue.
