Cyprus Airways plane grounded

A CYPRUS Airways flight bound home from the UK during the early hours of yesterday had to turn back and land at Heathrow after the pilot spotted a problem with one of the plane’s electronic systems.

The problem, which became apparent to the pilot over the English Channel Sea, forced the plane to remain grounded after an airport mechanic conducted preliminary inspections and did not give the aircraft the go ahead for take-off.

The CY-515 flight had taken off from Birmingham at 12.30am UK time and had been bound for Larnaca via Paphos. The plane was given permission to land at Heathrow at 1.40am despite the airport’s night-flight ban between 11pm and 6am.

Cyprus Airways spokesman Kyriakos Kyriakou said the airport had been closed when the aircraft landed but that the mechanic had been called out to inspect the plane. Cyprus Airways staff had also been called to the scene to help with the passengers.

“The mechanic said it was best that the plane remain grounded and that it undergo a full examination later today. If it needs a spare part it will be replaced,” he said.

Kyriakou said there had been 147 passengers onboard the flight and that after spending around 90 minutes on the plane before the decision not to continue with the flight was made, they disembarked. Arrangements were made at nearby hotels to put them up at the airline’s expense, he said.

“This morning around 40 passengers left on the 9.30am CY-327 flight, and the rest will leave on the 2.45pm CY-347 flight. Some passengers also flew home on a British Airways flight,” Kyriakou added.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.