A British Airways plane had to circle six times before landing as it turned back to Edinburgh.
Monday’s Flight 1443 took off from the Scottish capital shortly after 11 a.m. and was supposed to land in London about an hour later.
However, just five minutes later, it squawked 7700 — a transponder code indicating a problem with the plane, according to Flightradar24.
A British Airways spokesperson said that the pilots “identified a technical issue after take-off.”
It appeared that the plane’s landing gear was stuck in the down position, per the flight-tracking site AirNav Radar’s “Flight Emergency” X account.
The Airbus A320 turned north and entered a holding pattern near the city of Stirling.
It circled there six times before turning back toward Edinburgh, flying over the Firth of Forth before landing.
Flight 1443 landed safely at 12:16 p.m., an hour after it had first departed.
Edinburgh Airport had to suspend operations until nearly 2 p.m. as it dealt with the plane on the runway.
15 other flights bound for Edinburgh had to divert on Monday, mostly to nearby Glasgow, according to data from Flightradar24.
However, a Qatar Airways flight instead landed at Manchester — nearly 200 miles away. And a KLM flight turned around near the coast of eastern England before returning to Amsterdam.
Edinburgh Airport said passengers were bused to the terminal and the plane was inspected before being towed off the runway.
“Safety is always paramount and we would like to thank passengers for their patience and understanding,” it added.
“We’ve apologised to our customers for the disruption to their journey and our teams are working hard to get them on their way as soon as possible,” the British Airways spokesperson said.
The incident came just four days after Edinburgh Airport last had to suspend operations.
Last Friday, it said its air traffic control operator had an IT issue, meaning no flights could operate.
That included a Delta Air Lines flight inbound from New York, which circled south of the city before diverting to Dublin.
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