A British Airways flight from Dublin to Heathrow declared an emergency after encountering a technical issue while approaching London
Emergency services at Heathrow were placed on standby as a precautionary measure(Image: Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
A British Airways flight travelling from Dublin to Heathrow declared an emergency following a technical problem as it approached London on Tuesday morning.
Flight BA825, an Airbus A321neo, transmitted a squawk 7700 signal — the internationally recognised code for a general emergency — while flying over north-west England. Flight-tracking data indicated the aircraft making a controlled descent to 8,000ft before entering a holding pattern while pilots liaised with air traffic controllers to evaluate the situation, according to the Mirror.
Emergency services at Heathrow were placed on standby as a precautionary measure ahead of the plane’s arrival. The flight touched down safely shortly before 10am, with British Airways subsequently attributing the incident to a “minor technical issue”.
The airline declined to comment further on the matter, which follows a “cyber security incident” that affected three major UK airports after criminal hackers obtained data belonging to nearly nine million people.
Manchester Airport Group (MAG), which runs Manchester Airport, London Stansted and East Midlands Airport, confirmed that neither passenger safety nor aviation security had been compromised during the breach. It was also established that neither MAG nor the targeted system held customers’ bank or payment details.
The majority of the data accessed is believed to have been restricted to customer email addresses, alongside information relating to wi-fi sign-ups within the airports’ terminals. Phone numbers, vehicle registration numbers and postcodes were amongst the data accessed, the firm confirmed.
Operations across all three airports remained “unaffected”, though those behind the breach also issued a ransom demand, which MAG refused to pay. The company declined to reveal the sum demanded, but confirmed it became aware of the attack the previous Tuesday.
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“Manchester Airports group has been subject to a cyber security incident by an unauthorised third party,” a MAG spokesperson confirmed last Thursday. “A quantity of customer data has been obtained that relates to car park, lounge and fast track bookings and in-airport wifi sign-ups at Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports.
“We immediately contained the risk and have been working with specialist advisers and taking appropriate steps to protect our customers and systems. We have informed and are working with the relevant authorities. At no point has passenger safety or aviation security been compromised.
“The incident has not resulted in any operational disruption. Airport operations remain unaffected and customer parking services continue to operate normally. Neither Mag nor the system accessed hold customers’ bank or payment details. The data that has been accessed includes customers’ email addresses, phone numbers, vehicle registrations and postcodes.”
MAG moved to reassure customers that safeguarding their personal information remains a top priority, and issued an apology for any worry or inconvenience the incident may have caused.
