London-bound Cathay Pacific flight returns to Hong Kong with water supply problems as passengers spend 4½ hours in air

Flight CX253 departed for Heathrow Airport at 2.40pm but landed back in city at 7.12pm

Problem with potable water meant aircraft returned as a standard precautionary measure, Cathay spokesman says

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A Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300ER was bound for London but turned back over Henan province. Photo: Alamy

Published: 11:27pm, 24 Jun 2019Updated: 8:26am, 25 Jun 2019

Passengers on a London-bound Cathay Pacific flight spent 4½ hours in the air before landing back in Hong Kong after the aircraft experienced problems with its water supply.

Flight CX253 departed from Hong Kong International Airport for the 13-hour trip to Heathrow at 2.40pm on Monday. But a problem with the aircraft’s potable water supply meant the flight returned to Hong Kong as a standard precautionary measure, a Cathay spokesman said.

The Boeing 777-300ER, which has a capacity of 398 passengers, arrived back in Hong Kong without incident at 7.12pm.

The airline was arranging another aircraft for passengers to continue their journey and the flight was expected to leave after midnight.

A screen grab shows the route of London-bound CX253. Photo: Flightradar24.com

Aviation tracking website FlightAware showed the aircraft made a U-turn near Zhengzhou, Henan province, about two hours into the flight. Hong Kong’s Airport Authority said it had received a report at about 5.50pm that the flight needed to return.