Emily Dixon and Gianluca Mezzofiore, CNN • Published 25th March 2019
London (CNN) — Passengers on a British Airways flight from London’s City Airport to Dusseldorf in Germany were met with a surprise Monday morning when their plane touched down — in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh. The error was down to an incorrectly filed flight plan, leading both the pilot and cabin crew to believe the flight was bound for Edinburgh. The flight was operated by German leasing company WDL Aviation on behalf of the British Airways subsidiary airline BA CityFlyer. The incorrect flight plan was filed at WDL Aviation’s offices in Germany. After landing in Edinburgh, the plane took off a second time for Dusseldorf.
Piotr Pomienski, a student at Imperial College London, told CNN his girlfriend Zsófia Szabó was on the plane that landed in Edinburgh by mistake. “I saw on Flightradar that the flight was flying north instead of south, but I assumed it was a system error of some sort. That is until she wrote to me that they’re in Edinburgh.”Szabó told CNN she realized something wasn’t right when she saw mountains outside the plane, instead of the “usual German industrial landscape.
The captain subsequently apologized to the passengers, telling them the plane would refuel before heading to Germany.”Most of us found this situation quite funny,” Szabó said. “People were on phone calls trying to convince everyone that they’ve arrived in the wrong city.”Another passenger on the flight, Son Tran, told CNN: “Most passengers sleep or work through this flight so no one really noticed we were not flying over the Channel. We only realized we are in Scotland once we descended on approach and asked the crew.”In a statement, a spokesperson for British Airways said the airline was working with WDL Aviation “to establish why the incorrect flight plan was filed.