On 28 November 2025, a Delta Air Lines (DL) long-haul flight from Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) was forced to divert to Tokyo International Airport (Haneda, HND) after the crew detected a hydraulic-system malfunction aboard its Airbus A350-900, reported Aviation Herald.
The aircraft—registration N512DN, operating as flight DL388—landed safely on Runway 34R around 20:50 local time, with emergency services on standby. The runway remained closed for some time following touchdown.
Delta Flight DL388 Diverted: What Happened
Flight DL388 was scheduled to depart Shanghai Pudong, which is one the busiest airports in the world, at 17:30 (local time) bound for Detroit. According to Aviation Publication Simple Flying, “the aircraft had pushed back from the gate at 17:46“.
But when the aircraft was 140 nautical miles (259 km) north of Tokyo i.e., just passed over Japan, the flight crew detected a hydraulic anomaly, and the captain opted for a precautionary diversion to the nearest major airport- Japan’s Tokyo Haneda Airport.
The crew declared an in-flight emergency — a decision taken “out of an abundance of caution” according to Simple Flying, which also reported the following response from a spokesperson from Delta:
“On Nov. 28, the crew of Delta flight 388 followed procedures to divert to Tokyo-Haneda after reporting a mechanical issue while en route from Shanghai to Detroit. The aircraft landed safely, and we apologize to our customers for the delay in their travel plans. Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and crew.”
Emergency services were deployed on the ground at Haneda. The Delta’s Airbus A350 touched down safely on Runway 34R, vacated the runway, and the runway was closed for some time.
The aircraft was subsequently towed to a gate. The remainder of the journey to Detroit was cancelled.
Details: Delta’a A350 that was diverted to Haneda
Delta Air Lines’ Airbus A350-900 involved in the incident is registered N512DN, carries manufacturer serial number (MSN) 267. The aircraft is 7.7 years old and remains active in Delta’s fleet. It was delivered to Delta in January 2019 after being ferried from Toulouse to Atlanta on January 26, 2019, and entered commercial service on February 14, 2019.
The aircraft is configured with 32 Delta One business-class seats, 48 Premium Select seats, and 226 Economy seats, for a total of 306 passengers. Powered by two Rolls-Royce engines, N512DN carries the fleet number 3512 and has the ICAO hex code A66935. Its test registration was F-WZGE.
