United Airlines 767 Bound for Newark U-Turns to London With Technical Problem

In the last 30 minutes, a United Airlines Boeing 767 originally bound for Newark has had to u-turn to London Heathrow with a technical problem onboard.

United Airlines flight UA15 from London Heathrow to Newark Liberty International returned to its departure airport this afternoon after a technical issue emerged around two hours into the crossing.

The Boeing 767 left Heathrow shortly after its scheduled 15:20 departure and tracked west across Wales and southern Ireland.

It turned near the Irish west coast, close to the point where transatlantic traffic commits to the North Atlantic track system, then retraced its route southeast and landed back in London.

That position tells its own story.

Crews carrying an unresolved technical concern will usually settle the question before entering oceanic airspace, where the nearest suitable airport can sit several hours away.

United confirms a technical issue

United informed passengers through its flight status page that its maintenance team needs to address a technical issue on the aircraft before it departs again.

The airline apologised for the return and promised further updates as they arrive.

United has not specified the nature of the fault, and no additional detail has emerged at the time of writing.

A veteran 767 on the Newark run

The aircraft involved is N661UA, a Boeing 767-322ER fitted with winglets in December 2015.

United accepted the airframe in July 1993, and it now ranks among the oldest widebodies in the fleet at more than 33 years of age.

United parked the jet at Roswell in March 2020 and returned it to service in October 2021.

The aircraft seats 167 passengers across business, premium economy and economy cabins, and two Pratt & Whitney PW4060 engines power it.

Newark arrival now expected late evening

United now estimates a fresh departure from Heathrow Terminal 2 at 19:21, four hours and one minute behind schedule.

That pushes the Newark arrival to 21:53 local time, three hours and thirteen minutes late, with the flight blocked into Terminal C.

The airline intends to operate the service with the same aircraft once engineers clear the fault, which points towards a defect the team expects to resolve on stand rather than one demanding an aircraft swap.

The Aviation Hub will update this article as more information emerges.