Airline behind world's longest route faces second in-flight medical emergency in two days

A Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight from London was diverted to Istanbul on Sept. 15 after a passenger fell ill, a day after another of the carrier's jets turned back to Singapore over a medical emergency.

Flight SQ305, an Airbus A350-900, was carrying 197 passengers and 16 crew, an SIA spokesperson told The Straits Times.

It left Heathrow Airport at 9:38 a.m. and landed at Istanbul Airport at 5:07 p.m., both local time, the spokesperson said.

The aircraft was over northeastern Turkey, about three and a half hours into the flight, when it turned back toward Istanbul, AsiaOne reported, citing Flightradar24data.

The passenger was met by medical services on landing and taken to hospital, SIA told AsiaOne, declining to disclose the nature of the emergency for confidentiality reasons.

A Singapore Airlines aircraft flies past the Frankfurt Arena, in Frankfurt am Main on June 17, 2024. Photo by AFP

Because the crew would otherwise have exceeded their regulatory flight time limits, the flight was rescheduled to leave Istanbul at 12:10 p.m. on Sept. 16, the airline told The Straits Times.

It reached Changi Airport at 3:33 a.m. on Sept. 17, SIA said. The nonstop London-Singapore service normally takes about 13 hours.

SIA said it arranged hotel rooms and alternative flights for affected passengers and apologized for the inconvenience.

The earlier incident involved flight SQ24 from Singapore to New York, which turned back to Changi about four hours into its journey on Sept. 14.

The route between Singapore and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, flown as SQ24 and return flight SQ23, has been the world's longest commercial flight since November 2020, according to Flightradar24.

Reddit posts claimed the pilot had fallen ill, but the airline has not confirmed who needed medical help.