An unexpected incident occurred on board a plane flying from Vienna to New York. The aircraft had to be returned to the airport of departure after 2 hours of flight due to a breakdown that could not be repaired, reports The Guardian.
According to the publication, there were about 300 passengers on board the Austrian Airlines flight.
“Two hours after takeoff, the crew discovered that five of the eight toilets on board were not working,” the media wrote.
According to a spokesman for the airline to Agence France-Presse, “the toilets were clogged and the water was not flushing properly.”
“The decision was made to turn the plane around and return to New York. Currently, the Boeing 777 is back in service, and all passengers have received tickets for other flights,” the sources added.
According to mixnews.lv, passengers flush aircraft toilets up to 1,000 times during long flights. Frequent use often leads to blockages and breakdowns. Usually, in such cases, flights are directed to the nearest airport.
According to the airline, this is the first such case on Austrian Airlines flights. In December 2013, a United Airlines flight from Phoenix to Cleveland was forced to return to its point of departure due to a clogged toilet. In January 2018, a similar incident occurred on a Norwegian Air flight.