Yesterday, two aircraft from the 
Boeing 787 Dreamliner family of widebody twinjet airliners had to return to Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND) in Japan after reportedly suffering from engine issues shortly after their respective departures. These flights were operated by ANA and United, and respectively used the 787-9 and 787-10.
While diversions back to the point of origin for mechanical reasons, such as these, are standard practice when issues arise after takeoff, it is curious and notable to see two aircraft from the same family return to the same airport on the same day for similar reasons. Let’s take a look and see what exactly happened yesterday.
United Airlines’ Chicago Flight Didn’t Make It To The Windy City
Flightradar24
United Airlines flight UA882 is a regularly scheduled transpacific commercial passenger flight from Tokyo Haneda to its hub at Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) in the US federal state of Illinois. According to current tracking data made available by Flightradar24, it operates daily using the carrier’s Boeing 787-10 aircraft, departing Tokyo at 17:15 and reaching Chicago at 15:10 local time.
The aircraft operating yesterday’s iteration of UA882 bore the registration N12010, and it took to the skies at 17:53 from Haneda’s runway 16L. However, as reported by the Aviation Herald, the flight’s pilots stopped the climb at 10,000 feet due to engine issues. A spokesperson for 
United Airlines told Simple Flying that:
“United flight 881 from Tokyo Haneda to Chicago returned to Haneda to address a mechanical issue. The flight landed safely, and passengers deplaned normally at the gate. We worked to get our customers to their destinations as soon as possible.”
The Impacted Engine Had To Be Shut Down
Shutterstock
Coverage by the Aviation Herald suggested that it was the aircraft’s right-hand GE Aerospace GEnx engine that experienced issues after N12020 departed from Tokyo Haneda Airport, with the faulty turbofan reportedly having to be shut down in flight as a result. The Boeing 787-10 had 11 members of crew and 315 customers, giving it a load factor of 99.06% compared to its capacity of 318 passengers.
After circling to the southeast of Tokyo in order to burn off excess fuel and avoid a potential overweight landing, the aircraft eventually touched back down at Haneda Airport at 19:09 after just 76 minutes in the sky. For context, Flightradar24 data shows that this service is typically airborne for around 11 hours.
At the time of writing, N12010 remains on the ground at Haneda Airport. It was reportedly set to reposition back to Chicago as United Airlines flight UA3879 at 20:00 local time today, but this service appears to have been canceled. As it happens, UA882 wasn’t the only 787 to return to Haneda with engine issues.
An ANA 787 Also Returned To Tokyo Yesterday With Engine Problems
Flightradar24
Indeed, a similar fate befell JA837A, an All Nippon Airways Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner that was scheduled to operate flight ANA flight NH215 from Tokyo Haneda to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) on September 2. This daily service is scheduled to leave Japan’s capital at 09:35, with yesterday’s departure coming 19 minutes after this time. Unfortunately, the flight never made it out of Japanese airspace.
All Nippon Airways Flight NH215 On September 2
Departure from Tokyo
Arrival
Planned
09:35
17:10 in Paris
Actual
09:54
11:19 in Tokyo
As reported by the Aviation Herald, engine issues also forced this flight to return to Haneda, with the pilots stopping the climb at 6,000 feet due to a problem with one of the jet’s Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 turbofans. An ANA spokesperson told Simple Flying that “the engine gas temperature was higher than normal,” but emphasized the fact that “the flight did not make an emergency landing” upon its return.
IATA Code
HND
City
Tokyo Haneda
State/Province/Region
Tokyo Prefecture
The aircraft, which reportedly had 205 people onboard, touched down safely in Tokyo just before lunchtime yesterday. It has remained on the ground ever since.
AloJapan.com