(Posted 26th January 2025)
A Turkish Airline flight TK 606 – as per Flight Radar 24 – and TK 612 according to the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority, which left Entebbe International Airport at about a quarter past 7 a.m. this morning for Istanbul, had to return to Uganda’s main airport due to a yet unconfirmed emergency.
After circling for nearly 3 hours over Uganda die the aircraft land safely back in EBB around 10.50 hrs (a.m.).
The aircraft had according to UCAA information 269 passengers and crew on board. UCAA issued the following Tweet after the aircraft had returned to the ground:
Uganda CAA
@UgandaCAA
A Turkish Airlines flight number TK612, which departed Entebbe International Airport for Istanbul on Sunday, January 26, 2025, at approximately 07.14 hours with 259 people on board, was unable to proceed to its final destination due to safety precautions. The A333 aircraft successfully returned and landed at Entebbe International Airport at 10.50 hours after safely circling Ugandan airspace (areas of Northern Kampala) for over 3 hours to reduce fuel to the required safe landing weight. The precautionary measures taken are standard safety procedures in the aviation industry. All the passengers and crew were safely disembarked.
Unconfirmed claims of a bird strike on take off could not be confirmed although bird control in Entebbe constitutes a major problem due to a nearby large scale dumpsite.
Once more detailed information has been received, and verified, will ATCNews add further to this breaking story.
