Not all flights go as planned, and sometimes issues arise, necessitating a diversion. Once in a while we’ll see a “flight to nowhere,” whereby a plane has to return to its origin. However, this has to be one of the most extreme versions of this that I’ve seen.
In this post:
ANA 787 ends up where it started after 14 hours
This incident happened on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, and involves All Nippon Airways flight NH223, scheduled to complete the journey from Tokyo Haneda (HND) to Frankfurt (FRA). The flight was operated by a 10-year-old Boeing 787-9 with the registration code JA875A, and there were 151 passengers and 13 crew members onboard.
This flight ordinarily takes around 13-14 hours, and it doesn’t necessarily take the route that you’d expect. Since ANA doesn’t use Russian airspace, instead of operating westbound, this flight actually operates eastbound.
For example, below is what the typical flight path looks like for this ANA service from Tokyo to Frankfurt, which goes out over the Pacific, and then flies over Alaska, the Arctic Ocean, and Greenland, prior to reaching continental Europe.
On this particular day, the plane took off from Tokyo at 10:55AM local time, just 15 minutes after the scheduled departure time. The plane flew as expected for a little over six hours, having passed over Alaska, and then flying out over the Beaufort Sea (an extension of the Arctic Ocean).
However, at that point the crew made the decision to return to Tokyo due to a mechanical issue (more on that in a bit). In the opposite direction of travel, the winds were much stronger, so the journey back took around eight hours. In the end, the plane touched down back in Tokyo at 12:59AM this morning (Wednesday, February 18, 2026), 14hr4min after it departed.
So that means the flight actually ended up taking longer than usual, but rather than passengers ending up at their destination, they ended up exactly where they started.
What was the reason for this unusual ANA 787 diversion?
The reason that the ANA Boeing 787 diverted was reportedly due to low oil levels in one of the engines. Now, you might be thinking to yourself “wait a minute, if there’s an issue with oil in the engine, how does it make sense to fly for an extra eight hours, rather than diverting more immediately?”
After all, it was a shorter flight time to Frankfurt than to Tokyo at the time the plane turned around. I suspect this comes down to one of two reasons (or a combination of both).
First, right around the point that the plane turned around, it was entering a really remote region, with very few diversion points. So while this was an ETOPS equipped plane that is authorized to fly this kind of a route, that doesn’t mean pilots necessarily want to continue the journey if there’s a known issue.
Then again, clearly they didn’t view this as an emergency, or else they could’ve easily diverted to Alaska. The logistics would’ve been complicated, but my point is to say that if it was needed, it could’ve been done. Beyond that, the only other option would’ve been to divert to Russia, and that would’ve also been less than ideal.
Second, often when airlines have maintenance issues, they heavily prioritize flying the plane back to their base. After all, that way the plane can most easily be fixed, passengers can most easily be accommodated on other flights, etc.
While this was of course a massive inconvenience for passengers, it’s hardly unusual to see this kind of a response. 
Bottom line
An All Nippon Airways Boeing 787 flying from Tokyo to Frankfurt turned around at roughly the halfway point, after a low oil level issue with one of the engines. In the end, the plane landed back in Tokyo over 14 hours after it first departed, which is longer than the typical flight time to Frankfurt. Talk about quite a journey to “nowhere!”
What do you make of this ANA Boeing 787 return to Tokyo Haneda?
I didn’t think this was all that unusual. I was on a Singapore Airlines flight from SIN to SEA that turned back to SIN over Japan due to mechanical issue; total flight time was 12 hours SIN -SiN. No one ever reported on that. Maybe I’m just unlucky
When they took off the passengers thought they’d be having bratwurst and beer for lunch, but instead ended up having kung pao chicken and Chinese beer for dinner. Lol
Yes, because Kung Pao Chicken and Chinese Beer are staples in Japan. :)
It’s Dave the Troll. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer
Do the passengers get miles for the flight?
I don't think so but this does applies for a EU261 compensation, so I would prefer it above Miles.
That's just awful but I get why they made the call. Much easier to deal with repairs and equipment/crew replacement/rebookings from their main base. Also no passengers getting caught up in immigration hell if it lands in the wrong country and no extra long diversion required to get on the ground quickly if the situation worsened during flight.
On a flight like this where they're catered for about the same length of flight, do they just continue the service flow and have a pre-landing meal, etc? First world problems, I know
Probably the second meal right before landing.
I mean the aircraft was still secure, so it shouldn't have affected the service. It was practically a normal flight for the pilots while at the same time giving extra attention to the oil levels in case any any faulty indicators or abnormalities pop up.
Unless it was a dire emergency with a "Mayday" or even just a "Pan-Pan", better to return to home base than getting stuck somewhere like Anchorage. At least the aircraft is at home where it can undergo repairs, a fresh aircraft and crew can take the passengers to their destination and if needed be, passengers would be able to return home or accommodations can simply be arranged.
The logistics of diverting somewhere remote or...
Unless it was a dire emergency with a "Mayday" or even just a "Pan-Pan", better to return to home base than getting stuck somewhere like Anchorage. At least the aircraft is at home where it can undergo repairs, a fresh aircraft and crew can take the passengers to their destination and if needed be, passengers would be able to return home or accommodations can simply be arranged.
The logistics of diverting somewhere remote or even just an outstation would be a mess. From getting in another aircraft and crew, repairs to the faulty aircraft, accommodations, etc.
Diverting to Alaska would be a logistic nightmare in this case given that passengers would have to spend a lot of time on the ground, and a good number of them were probably ineligible to enter the US as they lacked a valid visa or ESTA.
I remember a while ago when an ANA flight to Chicago diverted to Anchorage. Talking to the crew they were very thankful it was a US bound plane already due to the visa/ESTA situation in the US.
I've always wondered, if you're eligible to enter a country that an international flight diverted to, will you actually be allowed off or is the airline obligated/required to deliver you to your ticketed destination?
It's not a realistic routing, but for this thought exercise, if you're an American citizen with an itinerary of HND-FRA-JFK and the plane diverted to ANC on the HND-FRA leg, can you get off and on your own dime get an ANC-LAX-JFK ticket or similar?
@Jinxed_K
I asked CX about this before. It comes down to traffic rights. I believe Japan and the US have an open-sky agreement, so NH supposedly will not violate the traffic rights to let you off at ANC for a non-emergency reason. However, say if it happened on an FRA-HND flight with the diversion point still being ANC, and likely ANA does not have traffic rights between Germany and the US, it cannot let you get off at ANC unless you have a medical emergency.