UK investigators have found that a TUI Airways Boeing 787-8 was denied an opportunity to divert to East Midlands before declaring a low-fuel emergency during a go-around at Birmingham.
The inquiry also determined that the aircraft had to fly an extended track before its second approach to Birmingham because a chance to prioritise the flight for landing was missed.
Originally inbound to Manchester from Cancun on 21 December 2023, the flight faced disruption from strong wind conditions in the northern UK.
The crew had anticipated high winds but erroneously expected them to dissipate and, although an additional 984kg of fuel was uplifted, it amounted to 15min of flight.
Owing to strong crosswinds at Manchester, several aircraft were queued for landing on runway 23R. The 787, with 5.5t of fuel on board, was placed in a holding pattern over the MIRSI waypoint with no estimate of the expected delay.
About 10min into the hold the crew called East Midlands to advise of a planned diversion. East Midlands’ runway 27 offered an approach more into wind.
This diversion request was rejected, because East Midlands’ airfield operations told air traffic control that the airport, at the time, could only accept Boeing 737-800s.
But the Air Accidents Investigation Branch discovered that the request should have been put to the airport’s centre control room – which had responsibility for acceptance decisions – and that it would have approved the 787 diversion.
This prompted the crew to divert instead to Birmingham’s runway 33, which was also experiencing strong winds.
“The consequence of the refusal of East Midlands to accept the requested diversion meant that [the 787] made an approach to an airport with significant crosswind and a possibility of windshear on final approach,” says the inquiry.
When the diversion to Birmingham commenced the 787 had been holding for 20min and had 4.1t of fuel remaining.
Minimum fuel required for the diversion was just under 3.4t. The 787 intercepted the runway 33 glideslope but received a windshear warning at 240ft and executed a go-around with fuel at 2.7t.
As the jet climbed away, the crew declared a ‘Mayday’ and reported a fuel emergency. The aircraft was vectored for another ILS approach with a track distance of 25nm and transferred to another controller.
The crew did not declare ‘Mayday’ to this controller, who vectored another aircraft – a Wizz Air Airbus A321neo – to land ahead of the 787. This forced the 787 to fly a longer track, a total of 53nm, burning over 1.4t of fuel.
It subsequently landed with 1.25t of fuel remaining, below the final reserve level of around 1.9t. None of the 301 occupants was injured.
Internal investigations into the incident were carried out at both East Midlands and Birmingham airports.
East Midlands clarified the centre control room’s role and responsibility for decision-making and communicating the type and number of aircraft which the airport can accept. Birmingham air traffic control emphasised priority procedures for aircraft that declare emergencies, including the provision of an uninterrupted approach.
