Hyderabad-bound Lufthansa flight returns to Frankfurt Airport after bomb threat

Lufthansa flight makes a U-turn to Frankfurt airport. ( Representative Image)

A Lufthansa flight from Hyderabad was forced to make a U-turn and return Frankfurt  Airport on Sunday evening after it was not given “permission to land” in India due to a bomb threat, reported ANI.

The aircraft, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner,  flight LH752 departed from Germany around 14.14 local time Sunday and was scheduled to land at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport early Monday. But flight tracker data showed a diversion a few hours into the flight.

A passenger on board the flight told PTI from Frankfurt Airport that they were being provided overnight accommodation as their flight was rescheduled for Monday morning.

“We just landed back in Frankfurt around 15 minutes ago and all we were told is that Hyderabad hasn’t given permission to land the flight there,” said the female passenger en route from the US to visit her mother in Hyderabad.

“It was a smooth flight and after about two hours in the air, we were told that we would be returning to Frankfurt. Now at the airport, they are providing us accommodation for the night and have told us that we will fly out tomorrow morning at 10am on the same flight,” she said.

While Lufthansa has been approached for further updates and reasons behind the aborted flight, a Frankfurt Airport spokesperson confirmed that LH752 had landed back in Germany.

“We can confirm that there was a return to Frankfurt Airport. For further information, please contact the Federal Police or the airline,” the spokesperson said.

Earlier tracker data for the flight showing it was en route to Hyderabad was updated just before the updated landing information for Frankfurt.

Air Traffic Control (ATC) at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport received a message that the flight was returning to Frankfurt a short while after it had taken off from the German hub airport.

(With agency  inputs)