Passengers onboard a scheduled Delta Air Lines flight found themselves returning to Atlanta after the Boeing 757-200 (the last ever built) experienced engine issues, requiring it to return to base.

First reported by Atlanta News First, the flight was carrying 191 passengers, two pilots, and four crew. Affected passengers were rebooked onto an alternative flight.

The flight, Delta Air Lines 2627, is usually a short 45-minute hop from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) to Jacksonville International Airport (JAX); however, for this flight on Sunday, December 28, the flight barely left Atlanta airspace, instead circling south of the city to burn fuel, and never rose more than 11,000 feet (3,300 meters) in altitude, as per data from Flightradar24.

This led to the flight remaining in a circling position between 7,000 and 10,000 feet while they were given clearance to land before touching down back in Atlanta around 33 minutes later.

Operated by the 21-year-old aircraft, it managed to land back safely at ATL at approximately 5:15 pm, where the aircraft was met and inspected by the Delta maintenance crew. Passengers were disembarked and rebooked onto a replacement flight. Data from Flightradar24 suggests this was DL2627 (same flight number)—however, this time operated by N6716C (another Boeing 757-200—24 years old).

The replacement flight departed from Atlanta at 9:44 pm and arrived in Jacksonville at 10:27 pm local time. This meant the return flight was also delayed; DL2627 departed JAX at 11:32 pm (instead of 6:41 pm) and arrived back into Atlanta at 0:14 am the next morning (instead of the scheduled 8:12 pm).

Source: Simple Flying