As a whole, aviation is incredibly safe and routine. You get on a flight, and it proceeds uneventfully to your destination. Every so often, however, flight crews need to divert to an alternate airport, whether it’s due to an aircraft issue, poor weather at the destination, or a problem in the cabin, such as an ill or disruptive traveler. While this is inconvenient for passengers, it does result in some unusual aircraft visits at airports.

As the year wraps up, let’s look at the most notable diversions in 2025. These may be important due to the reason for the diversion, the aircraft itself, where it ended up, or the impact that it had on the industry. While all of these diversions were undoubtedly inconvenient for passengers and the respective airlines, most of these were not as a result of a direct threat to the flight’s safety. Instead, the goal was to avoid a safety risk, as should be the case in the aviation industry.

Airbus A380 Diversions From London Heathrow

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On March 21, 2025, a fire erupted at a power station supplying electricity to London Heathrow Airport. This resulted in the disruption of over 1,000 flights, including 19 Airbus A380 services. Some flights were cancelled, while those still in the air had to look for alternate landing sites. This incident affected A380 operations by British Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Qantas, Qatar Airways, and Singapore Airlines, which had to divert their A380s to some unusual landing spots.

British Airways, Qantas, and Singapore Airlines flights arriving from Singapore were diverted to London Gatwick, Paris, and Frankfurt, respectively. A BA A380 arriving from Miami ended up diverting to Madrid, while another BA A380 coming in from Dallas/Fort Worth ended up diverting to Washington Dulles. A third British Airways A380 that was arriving from Johannesburg diverted to London Gatwick, while a BA A380 en route from San Francisco turned around over Canada to return to SFO.

An inbound British Airways A380 from Dubai ended up diverting to Munich, while an Emirates flight landed at Manchester. Etihad and Qatar Airways diverted their A380s to Frankfurt. While all of these airports see regular A380 service, it’s highly unusual to see a British Airways A380 at Munich or Madrid, for instance, making for some unique photography opportunities and operational challenges for the pilots as well as the controllers.

Three Lufthansa Airbus A380s At Boston Simultaneously

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A Lufthansa Airbus A380 is a normal sight at Boston Logan International Airport: the carrier flies a daily superjumbo from Munich during the summer. What is unusual, however, is seeing multiple German superjumbos in Boston, and that’s exactly what happened on June 30, 2025, when onlookers noticed that there were three Airbus A380s wearing Lufthansa colors parked at the airport simultaneously. Typically, Boston only sees two daily A380s during the summer (BA and Lufthansa).

One aircraft, D-AIMH, was parked at the gate and was set to operate the carrier’s daily route back to Munich. Another Airbus A380, D-AIMA, had arrived from Munich three days earlier and was grounded for technical issues. The third A380, D-AIMM, was flying from Munich to Washington Dulles. However, severe thunderstorms in the Washington DC area meant that the aircraft couldn’t complete its flight, and it instead diverted to Boston.

Not only were there three Lufthansa A380s on the ground in Boston, but the three aircraft were together for several hours. D-AIMH ended up departing Boston three hours late on June 30. The remaining two aircraft were later ferried the next day, with D-AIMA going to Munich, while D-AIMM was ferried to Washington Dulles.While all three aircraft were gone by the next day, the hours that they were gathered together made for one of the most unique sights at Boston Logan. Lufthansa only has eight Airbus A380s in total, which means that, on the evening of June 30, nearly 40% of its A380 fleet was parked in Boston.

A Lufthansa A380 Diverts Due To A Device Issue

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The next entry is another A380 diversion, and another one by a LufthansaAirbus A380 to Boston. However, the reason why this diversion was notable isn’t the aircraft or diversion airport, but rather the reason for the rerouting. Specifically, a business class passenger dropped an electronic tablet, which fell into the seat and became jammed. While onboard crew initially attempted to remove it, the tablet showed visible signs of deformation, and the pilots decided to land the plane.This incident occurred on April 24, 2025. The aircraft, D-AIMC, was operating Lufthansa flight LH453 from Los Angeles International Airport to Munich Airport, and ended up diverting to Boston Logan International Airport. Lufthansa has technicians based in Boston who were able to remove the tablet from the business class seat. Once the tablet was removed, the aircraft departed Boston and made a routine flight to Munich. LH453 ended up arriving in Munich three hours behind schedule.

The major risk with a stuck device is the possibility of it overheating, which could then start a fire, which is a serious safety risk that has led to tragedy in the past. Even if the fire is contained, it can still injure passengers and crew, especially due to the smoke. Flight attendants were unable to remove the tablet and had noted that the movements of the seat had visibly damaged the device. As such, the crew decided to divert to an airport where technicians could remove it on the ground.

A United Flight Diverts Due To A Laptop Mishap

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On November 19, 2025, a United Airlines Boeing 767-300ER operating from London Heathrow Airport to Washington Dulles International Airport diverted to Dublin Airport. Similar to the Lufthansa diversion, the issue was a lost device in the business class cabin. This time, however, it was a laptop that had fallen into a gap between a seat and the aircraft’s sidewalls. Flight attendants were unable to retrieve the laptop or check its visual condition.

As such, the pilots decided to divert to Dublin, where it was safely removed. Because flight attendants could not reach or observe the laptop, they could not determine whether it was damaged. A damaged laptop increases the risk of a battery fire, especially given that virtually all modern laptops use lithium-ion batteries. These are prone to catching fire onboard aircraft, and even placing pressure on the device (such as if a seat is being moved) can introduce overheating or a fire hazard.

An onboard fire not only damages the aircraft, but it also creates smoke that is then inhaled by passengers and the crew. Given how common lithium-ion batteries are in modern devices and the fact that more passengers travel with electronics than ever before, airlines have developed cautious procedures to prevent this danger.

In a case such as this one, where crews cannot retrieve or observe the device, the safest choice is to land before the situation escalates. This is especially important on a transoceanic flight such as this one, where there are limited diversion options.

Related

Smoking Device Forces American Airlines Airbus A321 To Divert To Washington

The aircraft involved remained on the ground for just under a day after the incident.

The JetBlue Flight Control Issue

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On October 30, 2025, a JetBlue flight en route from Cancun International Airport to Newark Liberty International Airport experienced an in-flight upset. Specifically, N605JB, the Airbus A320-200 operating JetBlue flight B61230, rapidly pitched down. The aircraft had descended from 35,000 ft to 18,000 ft in roughly five minutes, injuring three passengers. The aircraft diverted to Tampa International Airport, where another Airbus A320-200 took the passengers home.

This flight ended up having to divert to LaGuardia Airport for unrelated reasons. The aircraft’s pitch-down maneuver was uncommanded by the pilots and was similar to a 2008 incident in which a Qantas Airbus A330 also experienced an in-flight upset due to pitch-down maneuvers that were uncommanded by the crew.

Not only is the Airbus A320 family the most common commercial aircraft type in the world, but Airbus uses standardised software across its modern in-house-developed lineup (A320, A330, A340, A350, A380, but not the A300, A310, or A220). It was later revealed that intense solar radiation corrupted data for the computers controlling the aircraft’s elevators.

Airbus’s solution, announced in November, was to ground A320s programmed with the newest system update and for airlines to revert to an earlier version while it worked on a patch. In total, roughly 6,000 A320 family aircraft were grounded worldwide. However, the software fix was a relatively quick job, and while operations were disrupted for major A320 operators, the impact wasn’t as severe as one might think.