Earlier this week, a water leak caused an American Airlines intercontinental flight to divert. The Boeing 777-300ER was operating flight AA293 from Delhi (DEL) to New York (JFK) on March 21st when the technical problem arose. The water leak had left several of the onboard toilets inoperative, and was beginning to cause flooding in the surrounding areas.

At the time, the aircraft was flying at 30,000 ft, just over 100 miles east of Frankfurt. Therefore, the crew made the logical decision to divert to Frankfurt Airport (FRA), where American Airlines already has a presence, with ground staff on hand to assist the affected passengers.

Flight AA293 landed safely on Frankfurt Airport's runway 25C some 30 minutes later, at 03:13 local time. Its diversion route can be seen on FlightRadar24.com:

Simple Flying has reached out to American Airlines for comment.

Service recovery from American Airlines

When it became clear that the water leak would take some time to repair, a replacement Boeing 777-300ER (N733AR) was positioned to Frankfurt from London Heathrow (LHR) in order to operate the remainder of the flight to New York. Flight AA293 eventually departed at 14:30, arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport seven hours and 40 minutes later, with a delay of 12 hours.

The aircraft that had diverted, registered as N718AN, remained on the ground overnight in Frankfurt while maintenance teams resolved the issue, before being positioned back home to New York JFK the following day. The Boeing 777-300ER was then put back into commercial service in time for its next journey across the Atlantic as flight AA100 to London Heathrow.

American Airlines flight AA293 is a daily service, scheduled to depart from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport at 22:55, and arrive at New York John F. Kennedy Airport 16 hours and 35 minutes later, at 06:00 the following day. A longer routing to avoid Russian airspace has led to the lengthened flight times.

American Airlines and the Boeing 777-300ER

According to data from ch-aviation, the Boeing 777-300ER in question, registered as N718AN, was delivered new to American Airlines in December 2012. Today, it is one of the 20 Boeing 777-300ERs that make up the carrier's fleet. Each aircraft seats a total of 304 passengers in a four-class configuration - 8 in first class, 52 in business class, 28 in premium economy, and 216 in economy class. This makes it the aircraft with the highest capacity in American Airlines' fleet, followed by the Boeing 787-9, with a total of 285 seats.

Next year, the carrier plans to begin retrofitting its Boeing 777-300ER fleet, removing the first class cabin, and adding extra business class and premium economy capacity in its place. The airline's new business class suites with doors will also be installed.

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Have you been affected by a diversion when flying? Which airline were you traveling on, and where did the aircraft divert to? Share your experiences by commenting below.

Source: The Aviation Herald, FlightRadar24.com, ch-aviation.com