It was revealed online that China Eastern Airlines Flight MU735 drained fuel and returned shortly after taking off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport on July 20. It was suspected that the landing gear pin was not pulled out. The flight was operated by an Airbus A350-900 from Shanghai Pudong to Sydney Kingsford."Flight Live" showed that after the flight took off, it continued to circle over the Yangtze River Estuary for about 5 times, and finally returned to Pudong Airport.
In addition, many aviation practitioners posted screenshots on social platforms saying that the company issued a reminder in the work group, "On a long route, the maintenance staff forgot to pull out the landing gear pin, causing the flight to drain fuel and return. I hope everyone will take this as a warning."
On the afternoon of July 21, China Eastern Airlines’ customer service hotline responded: MU735’s return flight was due to aircraft maintenance. The specific reason for the maintenance cannot be found at the moment. In addition, the airline arranged for the passengers to take a replacement flight after their return, and they arrived safely in Sydney after a delay of 3 hours and 33 minutes.
It is understood that the landing gear pin is a key item for pre-flight inspection. If it is not removed, the landing gear cannot be retracted, which may trigger an instrument system alarm. According to the Airbus A350-900 model manual, when dealing with this type of failure, priority should be given to draining fuel and reducing weight before returning to flight.
In addition, other media pointed out that according to the latest market data, the price of domestic aviation kerosene in July 2025 was adjusted to 5507 yuan/ton.The fuel consumption cost for the return flight was about 250,000 yuan, plus airport service fees, compensation for subsequent flight delays, etc., and the direct economic loss is expected to be as high as hundreds of thousands.
In January last year, a similar accident occurred on Air China, and the flight involved also returned to the departure airport.
Previous reports showed that Air China CA1825 planned to fly from Beijing Capital Airport to Changzhou Benniu Airport on January 22 last year. After taking off from Capital Airport at 11:48 am, the flight circled nearby and returned to Beijing. In the end, the flight arrived in Changzhou at 4:26 pm on the 22nd, more than 3 hours delayed than originally planned.
On the evening of the next day, Air China issued a statement stating that on January 22, flight CA1825 from Beijing to Changzhou had failed to remove the safety pin of the nose landing gear due to the negligence of the staff. As a result, the nose landing gear of the plane could not be retracted normally. The crew returned the plane according to procedures.
