Lufthansa plane returns to Frankfurt after cabin pressure drop

A pressure drop in the cabin of an Airbus A330-300 operated by Lufthansa from Frankfurt in Germany to Dallas-Fort Worth in Texas led the pilot to abort the flight while over Ireland and return to Frankfurt on Monday.

"According to current information, during the flight there was a technical problem to the north of Dublin related to air pressure in the cabin," a Lufthansa spokesman said. "At no time was there any danger to the flight's safety," he added.

The crew of flight LH438 with 217 passengers aboard had decided to descend to 10,000 feet (3,048 metres) in line with normal procedure in a case like this, he said. Oxygen masks had not been needed, the spokesman said.

The aircraft with registration D-AIKL landed without incident in Frankfurt at 2:05 pm (1205 GMT) after taking off at 10:12 am. The passengers would be booked onto other flights, the spokesman said.