Emergency on British Airways flight mid-air - airline issues short statement
The Boeing 777-236 was seen "dumping fuel" in to the Bristol Channel
by Emma GrimshawA British Airways aircraft, which declared an emergency while flying over the Bristol Channel, has landed safely in London.
Flight Tracker showed the Boeing 777-236 looped round near to Cardiff before flying above waters near Weston-super-Mare, Clevedon and Portishead.
Plane enthusiasts posted on social media, saying they spotted the aircraft dumping fuel to make it 'lighter' before landing.
A spokesperson for British Airways has now confirmed the passenger plane safely touched down in London.
They said: "The aircraft landed safely after our highly trained pilots opted to return to Heathrow as a precaution.
"We’ve said sorry to our customers for the delay to their journey, and we’ll get them back on their way as quickly as we can."
Photographs on social media showed emergency services lined Heathrow's runway before the plane arrived.
One person wrote on Twitter: "Definitely not the sort of contrail you want to see an aircraft leaving - BA 777 G-VIIC dumping fuel at FL100 over the Bristol Channel was LHR-JFK now returning to LHR."