A Lufthansa flight from Boston to Munich was forced to divert twice in a matter of hours due to engine issues on both occasions shortly after takeoff.
Lufthansa flight LH425 took off from Boston Logan International Airport on Tuesday at around 8:18 p.m., the pilots informed air traffic controllers that they need to return to Boston because of a technical issue just minutes after take off.
After being cleared to dump fuel, the 16-year-old Airbus A340-600 flew back to BOS and safely landed there an hour and 20 minutes after takeoff.
It appears that engineers gave the go-ahead for a second attempt and the aircraft, again departed Boston at 1:06 am.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way, and the pilots once more reported an engine issue.
The aircraft was sent off the coast to dump fuel and then made a landing back at Boston.
A third attempt was not going to be made. The flight was immediately canceled because even if the technical issue could be fixed, the crew would be out of duty time limit before the plane could get back in the air.
Lufthansa had parked its fleet of A340-600s in deep storage at the beginning of the epidemic in early 2020 and had intended to retire the aircraft. In June 2021 the company decided to bring back five of the A340-600 to serve key routes from its Munich hub.
The reason was that the majority of Lufthansa’s aircraft no longer has First Class cabins in addition to the fact that passenger demand was soaring back.
In order to serve markets where First Class is in demand, Lufthansa will sell 12 of its 17-strong A340-600 fleet and keep the other five. Along with Business Class, Premium Economy, and Economy Class cabins, each jet has eight First Class seats.