London-bound Cathay Pacific flight returns to Hong Kong with water supply problems as passengers spend 4½ hours in air
- Flight CX253 departed for Heathrow Airport at 2.40pm but landed back in city at 7.12pm
- Problem with potable water meant aircraft returned as a standard precautionary measure, Cathay spokesman says
Flight CX253 departed from Hong Kong International Airport for the 13-hour trip to Heathrow at 2.40pm on Monday. But a problem with the aircraft’s potable water supply meant the flight returned to Hong Kong as a standard precautionary measure, a Cathay spokesman said.
The Boeing 777-300ER, which has a capacity of 398 passengers, arrived back in Hong Kong without incident at 7.12pm.
The airline was arranging another aircraft for passengers to continue their journey and the flight was expected to leave after midnight.
Aviation tracking website FlightAware showed the aircraft made a U-turn near Zhengzhou, Henan province, about two hours into the flight. Hong Kong’s Airport Authority said it had received a report at about 5.50pm that the flight needed to return.
An aircraft engineer said the problem might lie with the pump on the tank, which supplied drinking and flushing water. However, another possibility was that the tank had not been filled before take-off.
Sterilised water in the tank was usually used to make coffee or tea.
Cathay fights intense competition with cushy business class upgrade
The engineer, who did not want to be named, said the issue was not uncommon.
Hong Kong lawmaker Jeremy Tam Man-ho, a professional pilot, said he had not heard of such an incident before, adding that aircraft engineers were supposed to look after the tank.
The airline apologised for the inconvenience.
