British Airways A380 from Johannesburg diverted to Barcelona

A British Airways Airbus A380 operating flight BA54 was forced to divert to Barcelona due to a medical emergency onboard the aircraft.

The aircraft had been flying from Johannesburg OR Tambo International (JNB) to London Heathrow Airport (LHR) when the incident took place on November 6, 2022.

The Airbus A380, registered as G-XLEE, was scheduled to arrive at LHR on November 7, 2022, at 7:45 AM local time (GMT). However, the aircraft diverted to Barcelona El Prat Airport (BCN) after it squawked 7700, the general emergency code, and landed at the Spanish airport more than halfway to its destination at around 6:30 AM local time (GMT +1).

Responding to a query on social media, British Airways indicated that the diversion was due to an onboard medical emergency.

In a separate comment to AeroTime, the airline stated that “our aircraft diverted to Barcelona to provide medical assistance to a customer.”

According to the flight tracking website flightradar24.com, flight BA54 left BCN around three hours later, landing at LHR at approximately 9:24 AM local time (GMT).

The nine-year-old aircraft has been shuttling between the British capital and San Francisco, as well as Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, for the past week.

According to the same website, G-XLEE is scheduled to leave for Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) at 3:15 PM local time (GMT) as flight BA269.