Why Ghana-bound British Airways plane failed to land in Accra

On Friday, April 8, 2022; reports emerged that an Accra-bound British Airways aircraft had to make a U-turn and return to London due to some reasons.

The issue took over social media with some persons concerned over the possible reason of the failure of the plane to land in Accra as scheduled.

As the conversations evolved, some level of clarity has emerged over the possible cause of the incident.

A BA document shared on social media by the National Democratic Congress’ Zita Benson indicates that the plane was unable to land due to “airspace restrictions enroute to Accra’.

According to her, the document shared with passengers on the plane stated the plane was going to land in Malaga, Spain for refuelling before a final stop at Heathrow where arrangement had been made for them to spend the night.

“We are sorry that your flight to Accra today has had to be delayed overnight. As we are sure you were informed, due to airspace restrictions en-route to Accra, despite our best efforts to mitigate against any impact to your flight, we had to make a difficult decision to return to Heathrow and delay your flight overnight.

“We had to make a stop in Malaga so that we were able to fuel the aircraft before departing again for Heathrow. Any delay can be frustrating and we apologize for the inconvenience this has caused,” parts of the statement read.

The statement further announced that new departure date would be relayed to the passengers.

“Your new departure and check-in information will be communicated to you via SMS Aas soon as this has been arranged. Please ensure your contact details are up to date on BA.com/manage my booking.”

Zita, however, appears to have a reason which differs from the official position of British Airways.

According to her, her sources at the Kotoka International Airport told her that the development was due to ‘infamous’ power cuts to the airport.

“This is the excuse British Airways gave for their inability to land in Accra last night. My sources allegedly claimed dumsor, but this is official response from the Airline so we will go by that.

“Still, Ghana Airport Company, read John 3:16 and repent,” she posted on Facebook.

Her position was however contested by the Board Chairman of the Ghana Airport Company Limited, Paul Adom-Otchere who went wild with his rebuttal to the allegations by the NDC lawyer.