A Qantas flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne was forced to turn back mid-air because of a fuel pump fault.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A Qantas spokeswoman said the A380 Airbus, which departed LAX at 12.52am (local time) on April 17, had already passed Hawaii when the captain was alerted to a system failure.
The flight, QF94, had been due to arrive in Melbourne at 8.20am on Saturday.
"Approximately 4½ hours into a flight from LA to Melbourne a warning light indicated a fault with the fuel pumps," she said.
"As a result the captain decided to do an air return to LAX.
"Engineers are currently investigating the issue.
"At no point of the flight was the safety of the aircraft compromised."
The plane landed safely at LAX with emergency crews on stand-by.
Passengers from flight QF94 will fly back to Australia via Sydney later on Saturday. Qantas said that no flow-on impacts were anticipated.