With heightened sensitivities after multiple aviation disasters in the past year, Twitter users swiftly jumped onto the case with the hashtag #D7172 only to be later told to keep calm and carry on.
"There is no emergency on flight D7172. They just needed to get weight down to make a safe landing.
"A limited number of aircrafts are able to dump fuel. If you can’t dump fuel, you have to burn it to reduce weight. More fuel equals longer burning," Flightradar24 explained on Twitter.
There is no emergency on flight #D7172. They just needed to get weight down to make a safe landing http://t.co/8su11KHZmu
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) February 8, 2015
Confirming this, AirAsia group CEO Tony Fernandes told Bernama that the Jeddah-bound flight has returned to Kuala Lumpur International Airport and there is "nothing out of normal".
The plane landed at KLIA at 5.40pm.
"It could have continued (its journey) to Jeddah, but we felt it was better for it to return, nothing out of the normal," he said.
He later told AFP that there was a problem with one auto-thrust but maintained the plane for fit for flight.
Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said there was a technical glitch.
"I was informed D7172 with technical problem circling over Straits of Malacca. The plane has safely landed in KLIA2” he said on Twitter.
I was informed #D7172 with tech prob circling over Straits of Malacca. The plane has safely landed in klia #AirAsia
— Liow Tiong Lai (@liowtionglai) February 8, 2015
In a statement later, Air Asia X said the turn back was due to a glitch after take off and was merely safety precaution.
The flight took off for Jeddah with a different plane at 7.23pm, it said.
AirAsia is still reeling from the crash of Surabaya-Singapore flight QZ8501 which killed all 162 on board.
The death toll for Taiwanese TransAsia's GE235 crash last week is now 40.
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