Lufthansa Airlines (LH) flight LH-575 from Cape Town, South Africa to Munich, Germany was diverted to Luanda, Angola on December 3, 2022, after reportedly suffering an engine issue.
In an email statement to AeroTime, a spokesperson for Lufthansa Airlines confirmed the flight “made an unscheduled landing in Luanda on Saturday as a precautionary measure”.
“The reason for this was a technical irregularity in an engine display of the Airbus A350-900. The cockpit crew then decided to shut down one engine for landing as a precaution and to land in Luanda with priority status,” the statement continued.
The airline also noted that there was no flame development in the engine as initial reports suggested, confirming that the aircraft performed a controlled safety landing with one engine.
“Prior to [the controlled safety landing], the jet circled for a few minutes to reduce the total weight of the aircraft for the stopover,” the spokesperson confirmed.
All 271 passengers on board flight LH-575 were rebooked onto other flights within 48 hours. Lufthansa (LHAB) (LHA) confirmed that the final group of passengers would be flown on December 6, 2022, via flight LH-561 to Frankfurt where they will then be flown on to their destinations.
Following social media reports claiming that an airBaltic A220 flew to Luanda to aid in repatriating stranded passengers and crew following the emergency landing, the Latvian airline confirmed to AeroTime in an email statement that the flight was unrelated to the incident.
airBaltic also revealed that it was participating in an Airbus aircraft manufacturer’s demonstration tour in Africa, showcasing its A220-300 to customers, which included a visit to Angola.
