SINGAPORE: A Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight which was flying for the first time from Los Angeles to Singapore was diverted after the flight crew detected an error with the engine oil meter readings.

Flight SQ37 was scheduled to depart Los Angeles International Airport at 11.24pm (2.24pm, Singapore time) and was to land at Changi Airport nearly 18 hours later.





"A decision was made to return to Los Angeles about 40 minutes into the flight after the flight crew detected an error with the engine oil meter readings," an SIA spokesperson said in reply to Channel NewsAsia queries.



The flight landed in Los Angeles at 1.33am on Saturday.





"Engineers inspected the aircraft and declared it serviceable," an SIA spokesperson said.



The plane eventually departed Los Angeles again at 4.41am. There were 141 passengers on board the flight, SIA added.

INCIDENT: The return flight of the inaugural Singapore Airlines SIN-LAX-SIN non-stop service #SQ38/#SQ37 with brand new Airbus A350-900ULR 9V-SGC has just returned to LAX with an engine issue. | Info @TomPodolec pic.twitter.com/Xquwy6BUU2 — Airport Webcams (@AirportWebcams) November 3, 2018

SIA announced in July that it was relaunching non-stop flights between Singapore and Los Angeles, with the new Airbus A350-900ULR (ultra-long-range) aircraft.



Last month, the national carrier also resumed the world's longest commercial flight, with a near-19 hour non-stop journey from Singapore and New York.



The company had abandoned the marathon Newark and Los Angeles routes in 2013 when high fuel prices made the use of four-engine Airbus A340-500 jets uneconomic.



Earlier this week, SIA announced that it will begin non-stop flights to Seattle on Sep 3 next year - its fourth non-stop destination in the United States.

SIA will operate 53 flights per week to the US by December, including 27 non-stop Singapore-US services.

With the introduction of the new Seattle flights next year, the total frequency will increase to 57 flights per week.

