Inaugural Singapore Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Singapore makes U-turn after 40 minutes

The Los Angeles-Singapore service uses the new Airbus 350-900ULR (ultra-long-range) aircraft, and SIA is the first airline in the world to operate the plane. PHOTO: SINGAPORE AIRLINES

The inaugural Los Angeles-Singapore flight by Singapore Airlines (SIA) on Friday (Nov 2) had to make a U-turn after an error with the engine oil meter readings.

SQ37 departed Los Angeles (LA) at 11.24pm (2.24pm, Nov 3, Singapore time) and landed back in LA at 1.33am, said an SIA spokesman. It turned back when it was above the Pacific Ocean.

"A decision was made to return to LA about 40 minutes into the flight after the flight crew detected an error with the engine oil meter readings," he said.

After it landed, engineers inspected the aircraft and declared it serviceable, he added.

It eventually departed from LA at 4.41am on Saturday, and is expected to land in Singapore at around 1pm on Sunday.

There are 141 passengers on board the flight, he said.

The LA-Singapore service uses the new Airbus 350-900ULR (ultra-long-range) aircraft, and SIA is the first airline in the world to operate the plane.

The airline announced the non-stop flights between Singapore and LA in July this year, as part of plans to boost services to the United States.

Daily operations will start from Friday (Nov 9) when an additional A350-900ULR aircraft will be used for this service.

From Dec 7, a further three services per week will be added, increasing total non-stop flights between Singapore and LA to 10 times per week.

An SIA spokesman said there will be no changes to the plans despite the incident.

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