BA flight in mid-air emergency with ground crews placed on standby at Heathrow

BA flight in mid-air emergency with ground crews placed on standby at Heathrow A British Airways flight from Dublin to London Heathrow declared a mid-air emergency on Tuesday morning, descending to 8,000ft and entering a holding pattern A British Airways flight from Dublin to London Heathrow declared a mid-air emergency this morning. The crew of flight BA825, which departed Dublin Airport at around 8.45am, transmitted a squawk 7700 code - the international signal for a general emergency - while cruising over north-west England. Flight tracking data showed the Airbus A321neo making a controlled descent to 8,000ft. The crew stabilised the aircraft at the lower altitude and entered a holding pattern as they assessed the situation with air traffic control, according to Air Live. Emergency ground services at London Heathrow were reportedly alerted and placed on standby for the aircraft’s arrival. The flight landed safely at the airport shortly before 10am. The airline has not yet confirmed why the emergency was declared. The Mirror has contacted British Airways for further information. It comes after three major UK airports were hit by a "cyber security incident" in which criminal hackers accessed the data of almost nine million people. Manchester Airport Group (MAG), which operates Manchester Airport, London Stansted and East Midlands Airport, said neither passenger safety nor aviation security was compromised during the incident. It also said neither MAG nor the system that was accessed held customers' bank or payment details. It is understood that most of the data accessed was limited to customer email addresses and related to wifi sign-ups within the airports' terminals. Phone numbers, vehicle registration numbers and postcodes were also accessed, the company said. Operations at all three airports remained "unaffected". The hackers also demanded a ransom fee, which was not paid, MAG said. The amount of the ransom was not disclosed. The company said it became aware of the attack last Tuesday. A spokesperson for MAG said last Thursday: "Manchester Airports group has been subject to a cyber security incident by an unauthorised third party. A quantity of customer data has been obtained that relates to car park, lounge and fast track bookings and in-airport wifi sign-ups at Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports. "We immediately contained the risk and have been working with specialist advisers and taking appropriate steps to protect our customers and systems. We have informed and are working with the relevant authorities. At no point has passenger safety or aviation security been compromised. "The incident has not resulted in any operational disruption. Airport operations remain unaffected and customer parking services continue to operate normally. Neither Mag nor the system accessed hold customers’ bank or payment details. The data that has been accessed includes customers’ email addresses, phone numbers, vehicle registrations and postcodes." MAG reassured customers that it takes the security of customer information extremely seriously and apologised for any inconvenience or concern caused.