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Qantas flight to Dubai turns back to Sydney

Qantas flight to Dubai turns back to Sydney

Qantas flight QF1 to Dubai has turned back to Sydney, just an hour into its journey.

The Airbus A380 was reportedly flying at 9,800 feet instead of the normal 25,000 when it turned around west of Parkes in New South Wales.

"The captain of today’s QF1 from Sydney to Dubai decided to return to Sydney about an hour into the flight after a cockpit indicator light reported a fault with part of the system that helps regulate the cabin temperature," a Qantas spokesman said.

"This system carries hot air from the engines which is used to help heat the cabin."

The plane took off from Sydney at about 4.10pm.

The crew elected to return to Sydney rather than fly on to Darwin or Singapore, turning around over the town of Condobolin.

"Because the flight was only an hour out of Sydney, it was more practical to return to Sydney where we do a lot of our A380 maintenance to have the fault inspected," the spokesman said.

"Our engineers are on standby for the aircraft’s arrival and we hope to have the fault fixed and customers on their way as soon as possible."

The Qantas spokesman said the flight would need to dump fuel before landing at Sydney. It is not yet known when the plane will be able to land.