Emirates flight from Dubai to London declares mid-air emergency

A flight from Dubai to London declared a mid-air emergency and diverted to Frankfurt.

The Emirates flight EK31, which departed Dubai International Airport (DXB) at 11.25am local time on Thursday, issued a ‘squawk’ code 7700 - the code for a general emergency.

The Airbus A380-861 diverted from its destination of London Heathrow to Frankfurt Airport where it landed safely.

The airline later confirmed this was due to a passenger on board suffering a medical emergency.

A spokesperson said: “Emirates can confirm that flight EK31 from Dubai to London Heathrow diverted to Frankfurt on 1 October due to a medical emergency involving a passenger onboard.

“Our cabin crew provided assistance during the flight, and medical support was arranged on arrival. The aircraft landed safely in Frankfurt, where the passenger disembarked to receive further medical attention.”

The flight was expected to continue its journey to London Heathrow at approximately 6pm local time.

“We apologise to customers for the delay. The health and safety of our passengers and crew is always our highest priority,” the spokesperson said.

An image of the double decker plane’s flightpath shared by flight tracking site Flightradar24 showed it quickly changing its course as it headed to Frankfurt.

The incident came amid heightened tensions in aviation circles after a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was diverted to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after a pilot allegedly stabbed the other and tried to crash the plane.

The pilot who attacked his colleague on Flydubai flight FZ1073 is an Omani national, who was arrested after the emergency landing and is being questioned by Saudi authorities, according to sraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz called the incident an "attempted jihadist terror attack". But authorities have not yet issued any statements regarding the attacker's motive.